CITYPAPER Washington
JaCK evanS gOeS aFteR JOhnS 7
Reinventing the Belgian BeeR BaR 25
Free Volume 35, no. 30 WashingtonCityPaPer.Com July 24-30, 2015
“It’s not that I want to die. It’s that I want to control my own suffering.” D.C. and Maryland consider death with dignity legislation. 14 By Anna Hiatt and Sarah Anne Hughes Photographs by Darrow Montgomery
2 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
INSIDE
14 “It’s not that I want to dIe.” D.C. and Maryland consider death with dignity legislation. By anna Hiatt and saraH anne HugHes
PHotograPHs By darrow MontgoMery
4 Chatter dIstrICt LIne
7 Dear Johns: Jack Evans wants to impound cars to deter prostitution. 10 City Desk: Inequality among D.C. kids has worsened since 2008. 11 Gear Prudence 12 Savage Love 13 Straight Dope 23 Buy D.C.
d.C. Feed
25 Young & Hungry: Belgian beer finds a new home in D.C. 27 Grazer: Nearly 20 new spots are opening in Shaw 27 ‘Wiching Hour: The Beefsteak Sandwich
arts
29 Tools’ Errand: Record your next album at the public library? 31 Arts Desk: Themed doubleheaders at Capital Fringe 32 Curtain Calls: Klimek on Silence! The Musical 33 Sketches: Capps on “Resident A.D.” at Civilian Art Projects 34 Short Subjects: Gittell on Do I Sound Gay? and Olszewski on A Hard Day
CIty LIst
37 City Lights: The Bumper Jacksons are rootsy for realsies. 37 Music 42 Books 43 Galleries 43 Dance 43 Theater 45 Film
46 CLassIFIeds dIversIons 47 Crossword
“
SometimeS when they’re Strong, they’re confuSing intenSity with complexity. —page 25
”
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 3
CHATTER Clichéd Alive
It’s really too bad our readers couldn’t marshal any
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WEEK IS C O ER
ding? kiss my ass. And they don’t tip good generally. My wife is 30 something years old and she still has no idea how to tip. Asians. Easy to serve (non confrontational) but they generally don’t consume much so the check average is low. I could go on and on but I’m getting a little racist. lol. btw, full disclosure, I’m black.” Sorry, ladies—he’s taken. Some would-be diners claim the stereotyping their servers engage in is so pernicious and so noticeable that they’ve been driven from restaurants in droves. As kenyonstreet griped, “I got tired of this dynamic and eat out much less frequently. I’d rather have folks over to my house or go to theirs. When I do eat out, it’s a splurge or for work.” So you’ve routinely found that the tip you leave at the end of the meal was so drastically affecting your service during the meal that you can no longer bring yourself to eat at restaurants regularly? Checks out. And finally, fnarf pointed out a gap in coverage: “Interesting article, but I’m surprised you never addressed the pervasive stereotype among waitstaff that ‘black people don’t tip.’ It’s a belief that I suspect is responsible for the shoddy service my wife and I often receive at DC restaurants, regardless of the race of the server.” Fair point. Jessica Sidman responded: “I’m sure it happens but the thing that came up more often was the stereotype #D that foreigners don’t tip well.” Also, she points out, “no one wants to admit they’re being racist!” Ex—Emily Q. Hazzard cept GoldCoastKid.
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opinions on the topic of restaurant servers judging them in dining establishments (“Tipping Points: How Servers Are Secretly Profiling Diners,” July 17). Just kidding! The comments section quickly took on the feel of a sweaty, grunting brawl cageside at a WWE match. And it was just as subtle. Let’s wade in and start swinging chairs! AxelDC wrote, “This just reinforces the growing idea that tipping is not based on quality of service. Customers should be treated the same whether they are alcoholics or not. This article demonstrates that tips are based on gross sales, not the waiters’ impeccable attention.” Since this gripe came up many times, I’d like to point out that the article directly noted that servers say customers are all given baseline quality service: Being adjudged an ample tipper simply gives you perks and prompts the server to attempt some upsells. No one is planting hairs in your food because you don’t look like Southern Dad, in other words. Then GoldCoastKid weighed in to drop some “knowledge” (actually hate speech) on readers: “I waited at some of DC’s finest places. Let me tell you how it goes… Gays are awesome. especially if their lobbyists. Black folks, if a lobbyist then obviously its a good table but if they’re regular folks.. its hit or miss. Some overcompensate for others that don’t know how to tip. Women. Awful. They’re picky as hell and at the end they order hot water with lemon... are you kid-
In which readers stereotype the stereotypers
Want to see your name in bold on this page? Send letters, gripes, clarifications, or praise to editor@washingtoncitypaper.com.
publiSHEr EmErituS: Amy AustIn intErim publiSHEr: ErIc norwood EDitor: stEVE cAVEndIsH mAnAGinG EDitorS: EmIly q. HAzzArd, sArAH AnnE HugHEs ArtS EDitor: cHrIstInA cAutEruccI fooD EDitor: jEssIcA sIdmAn City liGHtS EDitor: cArolInE jonEs StAff writErS: AndrEw gIAmbronE, wIll sommEr StAff pHotoGrApHEr: dArrow montgomEry ContributinG writErS: joHn AndErson, jonEttA rosE bArrAs, ErIcA brucE, sopHIA busHong, KrIston cApps, rIlEy crogHAn, jEffry cudlIn, ErIn dEVInE, sAdIE dIngfEldEr, sElEnA sImmons-duffIn, mAtt dunn, sArAH godfrEy, trEy grAHAm, louIs jAcobson, stEVE KIVIAt, cHrIs KlImEK, ryAn lIttlE, cHrIstInE mAcdonAld, dAVE mcKEnnA, bob mondEllo, mArcus j. moorE, justIn moyEr, trIcIA olszEwsKI, mIKE pAArlbErg, tIm rEgAn, rEbEccA j. rItzEl, Ally scHwEItzEr, tAmmy tucK, KAArIn VEmbAr, joE wArmInsKy, mIcHAEl j. wEst, brAndon wu intErnS: olIVIA AdAms, morgAn bAsKIn, josH solomon onlinE DEvElopEr: zAcH rAusnItz DiGitAl SAlES mAnAGEr: sArA dIcK SAlES mAnAGEr: nIcHolAs dIblAsIo SEnior ACCount ExECutivES: mElAnIE bAbb, joE HIcKlIng, AlIcIA mErrItt ACCount ExECutivES: lIndsAy bowErmAn, cHElsEA EstEs, stu KElly, cHAd VAlE mArKEtinG AnD promotionS mAnAGEr: stEpHEn bAll SAlES opErAtionS mAnAGEr: HEAtHEr mcAndrEws SAlES AnD mArKEtinG ASSoCiAtE: cHloE fEdynA CrEAtivE DirECtor: jAndos rotHstEIn Art DirECtor: lAurEn HEnEgHAn CrEAtivE SErviCES mAnAGEr: brAndon yAtEs GrApHiC DESiGnEr: lIsA dEloAcH opErAtionS DirECtor: jEff boswEll SEnior SAlES opErAtion AnD proDuCtion CoorDinAtor: jAnE mArtInAcHE DiGitAl AD opS SpECiAliSt: lorI Holtz informAtion tECHnoloGy DirECtor: jIm gumm SoutHComm: CHiEf ExECutivE offiCEr: cHrIs fErrEll CHiEf opErAtion offiCEr: blAIr joHnson CHiEf finAnCiAl offiCEr: Ed tEArmAn ExECutivE viCE prESiDEnt of DiGitAl & Support SErviCES: blAIr joHnson DirECtor of finAnCiAl plAnninG & AnAlySiS: cArlA sImon viCE prESiDEnt of HumAn rESourCES: Ed wood viCE prESiDEnt of proDuCtion opErAtionS: curt pordEs Group publiSHEr: ErIc norwood CHiEf rEvEnuE offiCEr: dAVE cArtEr DirECtor of DiGitAl SAlES & mArKEtinG: dAVId wAlKEr ControllEr: todd pAtton CrEAtivE DirECtor: HEAtHEr pIErcE loCAl ADvErtiSinG: (202) 332-2100, fAx: (202) 618-3959, Ads@wAsHIngtoncItypApEr.com vol. 35, no. 30, July 24–30, 2015 wAsHIngton cIty pApEr Is publIsHEd EVEry wEEK And Is locAtEd At 1400 EyE st. nw, suItE 900, wAsHIngton, d.c. 20005. cAlEndAr submIssIons ArE wElcomEd; tHEy must bE rEcEIVEd 10 dAys bEforE publIcAtIon. u.s. subscrIptIons ArE AVAIlAblE for $250 pEr yEAr. IssuE wIll ArrIVE sEVErAl dAys AftEr publIcAtIon. bAcK IssuEs of tHE pAst fIVE wEEKs ArE AVAIlAblE At tHE offIcE for $1 ($5 for oldEr IssuEs). bAcK IssuEs ArE AVAIlAblE by mAIl for $5. mAKE cHEcKs pAyAblE to wAsHIngton cIty pApEr or cAll for morE optIons. © 2015 All rIgHts rEsErVEd. no pArt of tHIs publIcAtIon mAy bE rEproducEd wItHout tHE wrIttEn pErmIssIon of tHE EdItor.
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DISTRICTLINE
“We want to make sure that if we cut a tree like that down, it’s a last resort.”
—Charles Allen
washingtoncitypaper.com/go/tree
Dear Johns
Jack Evans wants police to seize vehicles of suspected “johns,” but is that the best way to deter prostitution? Jack Evans wants to embarrass johns out of the District, courtesy of a bill he introduced to the D.C. Council last week. The Anti-Prostitution Vehicle Impoundment Enforcement Amendment Act of 2015, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Anita Bonds, Brianne Nadeau, and Yvette Alexander, aims to create a culture of shame around soliciting sex. The bill “would specifically require the Metropolitan Police Department to impound a vehicle that a police officer has probable cause to believe is being used in furtherance of a violation of a prostitutionrelated offense,” according to a release from Evans’ office. Evans refers to it as the “Honey, I lost the car” bill: That’s the moniker he gave it in 1998, when a similar draft passed in the Council but was later declared unconstitutional by the D.C. Court of Appeals (that version of the bill allowed for the sale of vehicles that were seized). He reintroduced legislation allowing vehicle seizures to the Council in 2005, and the bill’s provisions were absorbed into a larger anti-prostitution omnibus act that became law in 2006. “Prostitution is a regional business. It goes from Richmond to Montreal, and it goes to the jurisdiction that is the least resistant,” Evans says. “I want every john who drives into the District of Columbia to know that they risk losing their car that night.” Per D.C. Code, MPD can currently arrange for the Department of Public Works to impound a vehicle belonging to someone who has been arrested for a “prostitution-related offense.” This new bill requires MPD to seize the vehicles and removes the provision on police coordination with DPW. “The procedure outlined in the code section is particularly cumbersome and time consuming for the police officers,” says Delroy Burton, chairman of the D.C. Police
This isn’t the first time Jack Evans has introduced similar legislation.
Darrow Montgomery/File
By Morgan Baskin
Union. “Its deterrent benefit is questionable since the vehicle cannot be forfeited and will almost always be returned to the john upon release from custody.” Evans says he introduced the latest bill partly because street-level prostitution is the “most visible” kind of sex work in District neighborhoods, and because in his 24 years on the Council, vehicle seizure has been one of the “most successful” mechanisms of deterring prostitution. And if the DPW provision is removed, Evans’ office believes the law can be more effective. “This coordination, we believe, was cumbersome and contributed to the measure not being widely utilized,” says Thomas Lipinsky, Evans’ director of communications. MPD through a spokeswoman declined to comment on the bill or provide statistics. Evans says there’s “huge chatter” from Ward 2 residents about an increase in streetlevel prostitution, or what he refers to as “showgirl” prostitution—“highly visible, scantily clad women walking around the streets, in alleys, having sex.” It’s not a new problem, but Evans says it’s getting worse: At a community crime meeting on July 9 in Logan Circle that both Evans and MPD Chief Cathy Lanier attended, street-level prostitution was “the number one thing” that was discussed. Charlie Bengel, an ANC commissioner for the area, says prostitution “is the number one public safety complaint that I receive.” “Residents are fed up seeing condoms in the alleys, courts, and parking lots, and prostitutes on the corner when trying to get to work, church, or walk a child to school,” he says via email. Johns are the easiest to catch, Evans says, and therefore the “most economical” part of prostitution to target. MPD seems to agree. Its Human Trafficking Unit arrested ten men in downtown D.C. on July 14 as part of a prostitution sting; 20 other men have been ar-
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 7
DISTRICTLINE rested in the same area since, and all 30 were charged with solicitation of prostitution. “The current enforcement efforts were focused on the ‘customers’ in reverse-style operations,” First District Commander Jeff Brown said in a listserv email. “These arrests have made a noticeable difference to the community and the enforcement efforts will continue.” The point of the bill is not to increase arrests, Evans said during its introduction, but to get prostitution out of D.C. It’s the same idea behind “prostitutionfree zones,” which were legalized in the 2006 Omnibus Public Safety Act and allowed MPD officers with “reasonable belief ” that a group of two or more people were sex workers to force that group to vacate the area. If they didn’t comply, MPD officers could arrest them. At-Large Councilmember David Grosso led the ultimately successful movement to repeal the law, arguing in an op-ed last year that prostitution-free zones reinforced biases against women of color and transgender wom-
en. After D.C.’s attorney general declared in 2012 that the zones were likely unconstitutional, MPD stopped enforcing the law. Cyndee Clay, executive director of the nonprofit Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive, argues that if neighborhoods are seeing an increase in street-level prostitution (a claim she questions), it’s a result of the prostitution-free zones. “The city made a very intentional choice when they instituted prostitution-free zones to move people who were doing sex work out of downtown and push people into the neighborhoods,” she says. In reality, most sex workers are now advertising online, not walking the streets. One of the more commonly used sites, Backpage. com, hosts ads from voluntary sex workers, but it also is a hotbed for sex trafficking. “The Internet has changed the game,” Burton says. “Resources aren’t there to attack that portion [of trafficking] as vigorously as we should. That’s where the exploitation of women and children thrives.” Andrea Powell, founder of FAIR Girls,
an organization that serves and mentors survivors of sex trafficking, says about 90 percent of her clients were marketed online, where the transactions are “off the books.” Her team works with MPD’s Human Trafficking Unit to scan “hardcore” trafficking websites like these for potential victims. She says ads are placed online for girls using soft language— “roses in exchange for time” is one example of an ad Powell might find there—making it hard to determine who’s a victim of trafficking and who’s a voluntary sex worker. Powell says it’s not her goal to have voluntary sex workers arrested, and that MPD has been less inclined to pursue leads on Backpage if the ad doesn’t include a victim of trafficking. And while Evans’ bill targets johns in the District, Powell says it won’t deter them from seeking paid sex in nearby areas. About 45 percent of the 140 trafficking victims Powell works with are from Prince George’s County. “[Johns] aren’t going to see this and say, ‘Oh, shit’ and go to Delaware,” Powell says. Evans, meanwhile, is focused on getting
johns out of the District. “They can go to Maryland and Virginia,” he says. While Evans says the intent of the bill is to impound the vehicles of johns, Clay worries that sex workers’ vehicles could theoretically also be impounded. Economic limitations are a sex worker’s biggest obstacle, so having their vehicles impounded is dangerous to their livelihood and chances of escaping poverty. They wouldn’t have access to social services, for example, or be able to pick up their kids from child care, Clay says. Evans’ bill was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, which will decide whether to schedule a hearing on the legislation when the Council reconvenes this fall. While we’ll have to stay tuned to get MPD’s opinion on the bill, Burton says he’s not convinced of its effectiveness. “Unfortunately, what I’ve learned over the last 23 years is that wherever there’s a demand for something, someone is going to provide it,” Burton says. “I don’t think the demand is CP going anywhere. Not in my lifetime.”
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Presents
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Seating begins at 7:00 PM Movies begin at dusk.
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DISTRICTLINE City Desk
tomorrow’s history today: This was the week that Muriel Bowser predicted that the District will top 800,000 residents in the coming decades.
ARE ThE KIDS ALRIghT? 2008
2013
Children in poverty
26%
27%
Children whose parents lack secure employment
41%
42%
Children living in households with a high housing-cost burden
38%
40%
Teens neither working nor in school
9%
11%
Children living in highpoverty areas*
32%
33%
Would you raise your kids in D.C.? Housing costs are high, and D.C.’s public school system still faces an uphill battle. Even local blogger Prince of Petworth (aka Dan Silverman) decided to move from his eponymous neighborhood “because of schools”: He has one daughter and another child on the way, and he was zoned out of his “preferred elementary school” last year. PopVille, however, isn’t the only person to have realized how inequality in D.C. affects its most vulnerable constituents: children. This week, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national children’s-advocacy organization, released its annual Kids Count report. The data shows that despite broad financial gains in the District, the economic well-being of D.C.’s children has actually worsened since 2008, the heart of the Great Recession. “We’re hearing so much about the positive economic gains within the past couple of years, but children are not reaping the benefits,” says HyeSook Chung, executive director of DC Action for Children. Nevertheless, the report highlights some good news including that high-school graduation rates and preschool attendance are up. Here’s a selection of the report’s findings. You can see the rest at washingtoncitypaper.com/go/kidscount. —Andrew Giambrone
* 2006-10/2009–13
1500 Block of PennsylvAniA Avenue nW, July 21. By DArroW MontGoMery 10 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Children without health insurance Children in families where the household head lacks a high school diploma Eighth graders not proficient in math Fourth graders not proficient in reading Low-birthweight babies
2008
2013
4%
2%
17%
14%
92%*
81%
86%*
77%
10.5%
9.4% * 2007
Gear Prudence: Nothing pisses me off more than seeing people with phones up to their ears while driving, except for one other thing: when bicyclists do it too! D.C. has laws against this for drivers—is it the same for bicyclists? I’m worried that a distracted bicyclist is going to run me over! —Please Help, Obliviousness Needlessly Endangers Dear PHONE: Distracted driving is an omnipresent scourge to all road users, and there are few things more harrowing for bicyclists and pedestrians especially. D.C. has a law against the use of mobile phones and electronic devices while driving, allowing them only to be used with hands-free accessories. However, the code only references operators of motor vehicles. Bikes and cars, after all, aren’t the same. But just because it’s legal for bicyclists, it doesn’t mean it’s a great habit, and GP would generally advise against it. It’s remarkably easy for a bicyclist to pull off the road and get going again, so that’s likely a better option than fidgeting with a gadget when riding. Unless it’s an emergency, —GP the call can probably wait. Gear Prudence: I have an ethical dilemma. I am a strong believer in bicyclist rights, and I like to patronize local businesses that treat bicyclists well. But my absolute favorite sandwich shop doesn’t have bicycle parking, and there’s nowhere within a block to lock up my bike. I’ve asked them to install a rack, but they said that they “weren’t interested.” If they’re not interested in bicyclists, should I be interested in them? Should I take my money elsewhere in protest? —Sad, Angry Man Mulls Objection Dear SAMMO: Faced with the cruel injustice of not being able to lock your bike directly in front of a business you plan to frequent, you are considering forswearing your favorite sandwich in the name of “bicyclist rights” and in the hope that, deprived of your occasional $8 lunch order, the owner will capitulate as the business slowly bankrupts and realize that the lack of bike parking was its undoing? Spend your money (or withhold it) according to your own personal ethical standards, but it seems highly unlikely that your individual boycott will bring your desired outcome. Your instinct to protest is good, but consider a different tack. Arrange weekly group rides to the shop and show the owner that bicyclists mean business. If the owner sees how many eaters arrive by bike, perhaps a desire to accommodate these customers (and their $$$) will spur additional interest in bike parking. There’s a shortage of perfect sandwich places in this world. It would be a pity to abandon yours. —GP
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wednesday, 7/29 at 6:30pm The Rainy Season Maggie Messitt Monday, 8/3 at 8:00pm An Evening of Humorous Readings Wednesday, 8/5 at 6:30pm The Summertime Girls Laura Hankin Monday, 8/10 at 6:30pm Brick Walls Saadia Faruqi Tuesday, 8/11 at 6:30pm The Sex Myth Rachel Hills in conversation with Latoya Peterson Wednesday, 8/12 at 6:30pm Into the Valley Ruth Galm Wednesday, 8/19 at 8:00pm Third Annual Erotica Slam Come prepared with a 3-minute max erotic tale.
Gear Prudence is Brian McEntee, who tweets @sharrowsDC. Got a question about bicycling? Email gearprudence@washcp.com. washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 11
SAVAGELOVE My wife and I have been together for more than 10 years, practicing some kind of nonmonogamy for more than seven. We tried different things— open, dating others, FWBs—but after a bi threesome with another guy a year ago, we knew that was our thing. For a while, everything was great, but roughly a month after that defining threesome, I came down with a bad case of mono. In a couple of months, we resumed our bi sexdates with our FWB, and I noticed I had a hard time getting horny and even had a hard time getting (and staying) hard. More foreplay was needed and fewer distractions were acceptable. I even resorted to pharmaceutical help. We assumed I was still recovering and that diet and exercise would make it all better. Then I had a work-related crisis that lasted until March (and blamed stress from that, since things didn’t really change), and finally in March I got shipped off to a war zone. And I still don’t have the drive I had a year ago. My brothers-in-arms ogle every female who happens to be around, and sometimes they hook up even though they’re not in open relationships—unlike me, who is in one but has no desire to hook up with anyone. I rarely masturbate these days, and if I do, I need sexts and naughty pictures from my wife (and our FWB) back home to get in the mood. I just recently started to get morning wood again, and I blame all this on the stress of being in a war zone. But I fear these are just excuses and I may have to accept the fact that I’m just getting older and this is how my libido is gonna be from now on. I’m turning 30 in a few weeks, so that doesn’t help, either. What are the chances that this is just an unlucky chain of events, and when this is over, I could go back to being my old horny self? —Currently Occupied Mostly By Arms Though
My wife is a submissive. I’m not a natural Dom, but I’ve become more comfortable assuming the role. Recently, she stopped hormonal birth control, and her sex drive and interest in capital-S Submission kicked into high gear. She joined FetLife and went to her first munch a couple of
weeks ago. She’s not shopping for a Dom. She’s looking to socialize, discuss this part of herself, and not feel like such a freak. She thought she hit it off with a few folks but now realizes she may have been sending mixed signals. The munch was advertised as casual, but she says most left that night with a hookup or play plans. One man in particular seems to read her interest in friendship as sexual. My wife is quite upset. How can she find a group of kinksters who will socialize and share their experiences without assuming her presence as an unaccompanied submissive female is an invitation to fuck? —Married, Optimally Nookied, Only Need Advice
The people your wife met at that munch are kinksters, MONONA, not psychics. The people your wife met at that munch are kinksters, MONONA, not psychics. If she’s not interested in playing with anyone other than her spouse—if she has a hot Dom at home and is there only to make kinky friends— all she has to do is say so. Munches are informal meetups where kinky people, from nervous novices to wizened pros, get together without the pressures or expectations of a play party. Your wife’s presence at a munch is not an invitation to fuck, of course, but someone who respectfully expresses an interest in play-
ing isn’t guilty of bending Emily Post over a bondage bench with the intent to fuck her ass. Most people who go to munches are open to play, MONONA, but those who aren’t are welcome. Your wife just needs to let her new friends know she’s interested only in socializing. You could help her send that unambiguous, non-mixed signal by accompanying her to —Dan the next munch. I’m a 24-year-old heterosexual female. I discovered that my boyfriend still had an online dating profile up and was checking it regularly. We had a calm discussion about it, and he assured me that he just found the messages he got flattering and offered to take it down. I told him if that’s all he was doing, then there was no reason he couldn’t have those ego boosts and a monogamous relationship with me, too. Had I not been such an avid reader of your column, Dan, that discussion would’ve gone very differently. And, really, it’s not like he was going to forget that other women existed—nor would I want him to. Though I may look back on this and cringe, right now we’re in a great place. We have fun and are sexually compatible and have really excellent conversations. Thank you! —His Answer Perfectly Plausible, Yes? I enjoy letters like HAPPY’s because it’s nice to be reminded that not everyone is cheating or being cheated on, miserably single and looking to get into a relationship or trapped in a miserable couple and looking to get out, kinky and stuck with a vanilla partner or vanilla and stuck with a kinky one. Some people are doing just fine. And yes, HAPPY, I do think your boyfriend’s answer is perfectly plausible—some people are on dating apps for the ego boosts alone (they’re called “time wasters”)—and here’s hoping it’s to—Dan tally truthful as well. Send your Savage Love questions to mail@savagelove.net.
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I asked a doctor—Dr. Barak Gaster, a physician at the University of Washington and a regular (if sometimes mortified) guest expert around here—if mono could damage and/or diminish a guy’s libido, his ability to stay hard, and his masturbatory routine for nearly a year. “Mono is a viral illness for which there is
no real treatment other than the tincture of time,” said Dr. Gaster. “Mono is a pretty insidious illness in that it typically causes really severe fatigue, which can linger for a long time. Other common symptoms are muscle and joint aches.” Could fatigue and aches still be affecting mood and interest in sex? “They could,” said Dr. Gaster. “It would not be typical, but they could. The duration of mono symptoms is typically around three months, but they can persist to some degree for one to two years in more severe cases. None of the effects of mono are typically considered ‘permanent.’ So it would be important to reassure someone that the effects of mono that are still present after 12 to 18 months could still likely resolve as more time passes.” You came down with mono less than a year ago, COMBAT, so you’re still in that one-totwo-year symptoms-could-persist window. You also dealt with a work-related crisis before being shipped off to a combat zone—that sounds extremely stressful, and not everyone reacts to stress the same way. The stress of being in a combat zone could make the guys around you horny while having the opposite effect on you. Be reassured, like the doctor said, that things—your dick included—will most likely right themselves in another 6 to 12 months. The fact that morning wood is returning seems like a good sign, as is the effect a few dirty texts from the woman (and FWB) waiting for you back home has on your dick. Come home safe—and props to you and your wife for continuing to grow together sexually. That’s probably why you’re still together, and still in love, despite having married so young. —Dan Savage
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How do we know how to pronounce proper names in ancient Egyptian? I understand the Rosetta Stone gave us the ability to translate hieroglyphics, but how do we know two birds laying eggs is pronounced “Tutankhamun”? —Dave K., Milford, Connecticut Some are now thinking: Who cares how we know this? This is shallow. Fact is, David, we do know, more or less. And how we know is a fascinating tale. It won’t surprise you to learn our knowledge of how to pronounce Egyptian hieroglyphics begins with the Rosetta Stone. Discovered in 1799, the stone is a black granite-like slab on which a decree by Ptolemy V is inscribed in three languages—hieroglyphics, what’s now called demotic script, and ancient Greek. The message itself, issued in Memphis in 196 BC, is of little consequence. (Short version: I, Ptolemy V, have done great deeds. Worship me, dudes.) What makes the Rosetta Stone special is that each language conveys an essentially identical message. In other words, the Rosetta Stone is a hieroglyphics cheat sheet. The two researchers who vied to translate the Rosetta Stone were the French linguist Jean-François Champollion and the English freelance genius Thomas Young. Young had the first breakthrough, discovering that demotic script was actually a cursive version of hieroglyphics. However, like everyone else at the time, he thought both hieroglyphs and demotic characters were ideographs—that is, each symbol represented a concept, as with the components of Chinese characters, rather than representing only a sound, as with the Latin alphabet. A string of glyphs like “birdsnake-man-river” was assumed to mean something, but no one thought you could pronounce it like a sequence of letters. Young believed some hieroglyphs were phonetic—specifically, those used to spell out the names of foreign rulers. Hieroglyphs representing kings and queens were often enclosed in an oblong border called a cartouche, making them easy to spot. The glyphs representing Egyptian rulers’ names were believed to be purely symbolic, not phonetic. But since foreign names had no local equivalent, they could only be expressed phonetically, suggesting the glyph strings in those cartouches had to be pronounceable. This proved to be the key to decoding. The Rosetta scripts encoded different languages. But proper names would presumably be pronounced similarly regardless of language. Young tried to assign phonetic values to the cartouche glyphs, but translated only six before giving up. The task fell to Champollion. He made two breakthroughs. The first was comparing the demotic characters signifying Ptolemy on the Rosetta Stone to those rep-
Slug Signorino
THESTRAIGHTDOPE resenting Cleopatra in a separate example of demotic. He found characters corresponding to the Greek equivalents of P, L, T, O, and E in each name. In other words, demotic characters didn’t just symbolize concepts; they spelled out how words were pronounced. (As you may have guessed, in Greek the P in Ptolemy isn’t silent.) Champollion’s next brainstorm was more of a leap. First he identified the hieroglyphs corresponding to various demotic characters. Then he took the hieroglyphs for Ptolemy on the Rosetta Stone and compared them to those on an obelisk, in a cartouche known to signify Cleopatra. Sure enough, he found the P, L, O, and E hieroglyphs exactly where he predicted. What about the T? Champollion deduced he’d found a hieroglyphic homophone for this letter—that is, another symbol having the same pronunciation, as with our F and PH. Champollion set about finding other correspondences between Greek letters and hieroglyphs. In 1822, he found non-cartouche-enclosed hieroglyphs spelling out “Ra-mes-ses” (i.e., the name Ramses, used by numerous pharaohs). Bingo! Champollion’s work wasn’t confirmed until 1866, when another multilingual text was discovered. But he’d figured it out. Without some Rosetta-type document or connection to a living language, translation of dead tongues is close to impossible. We have some idea what ancient Etruscan sounded like because Greek and Etruscan letters tend to be used interchangeably in surviving Etruscan writing samples. But for the most part no one knows what the writing says. So that’s how we know how to pronounce ancient Egyptian names. That’s not to say an ancient Egyptian would know what you were talking about if you chronoported back to Thebes in the second century BC and asked to see Tutankhamen. As any American knows who’s earned Parisian scorn trying to communicate with just a French-English dictionary, the Latin alphabet gives only a rough idea of pronunciation. One wonders how, without a surviving recording, someone in the future would phonetically translate North Dakotan, Cajun, or Valley Girl versions of English. —Cecil Adams Have something you need to get straight? Take it up with Cecil at straightdope.com.
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washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 13
“It’s not that I want to die. It’s that I want to control my own suffering.” 14 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
of death with dignity legislation, specifically. It’s not legislative squabbles that interest them. The women talk about wanting another endof-life option, and legalizing physician aid in dying offers them that. “It’s not that I want to die,” Lange said. “It’s that I want to control my own suffering.”
Advocates urge Maryland lawmakers to pass tabled aid-in-dying bill. By Anna Hiatt Kelly Lange doesn’t want to die, but she knows she’s going to, and earlier in her life than most. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, at the age of 32. For eight years her disease responded well enough to drugs, but in 2003, the doctors found the cancer had metastasized—average prognosis: two to three years. She joined a metastatic breast cancer support group in Annapolis, where she lives, and over the last 12 years, her cancer has responded well to just a single drug therapy, which means she’s lived to see many women join the group, decline, and die. And so, despite her own luck, Lange has no illusions about metastatic breast cancer’s inevitable course, and neither do the women in her group. “There are some certainties in cancer,” she said. “When it gets to this stage it doesn’t go away. You don’t just have these miraculous recoveries.” Her support group doesn’t talk about politics, broadly, or even Maryland’s consideration
Even in D.C., the death with dignity debate comes with strong emotions and fears. By Sarah Anne Hughes It’s 6:30 p.m. on a July Monday, and the Cullen Room at Busboys and Poets in Mount Vernon Triangle is full.
In 2015, for the first time, Maryland’s legislature began considering a death with dignity bill, which would make it legal for physicians to help patients with a terminal prognosis of six months or less to end their lives. After two public hearings—one before the state’s House of Delegates, another before the Senate—the legislation was tabled for the remainder of the session. But after some tweaking, the bill’s sponsors say it will be back in the next session in January. If passed, Maryland’s death with dignity law would look much like Oregon’s. Three separate requests by the patient—first oral, then written, then oral again—would be required. Two witnesses would have to sign the written request, and at least one couldn’t be a relative or someone who will benefit financially from the patient’s death. Anyone who chooses to use the law would be marked as having died of natural causes, protecting life insurance policies. In her work as a patient advocate, Lange is intimately exposed to death in all its forms and progressions. She says she feels a sense of responsibility to the women she’s watched die and to the people “actively dying” who are too sick to come testify. On breast cancer, Lange is a public advocate, but on death with dignity she speaks as a private citizen who’s made it her business to openly and avidly support the legislative effort in Maryland. As of July, three states have enacted death with dignity laws—Oregon, Washington, and Vermont—and courts in Montana and New
Mexico have ruled that physician aid in dying is legal. Maryland is one of 24 states that began considering death with dignity legislation this year, compared to just one—New Jersey—in 2014. Advocates and opponents alike credit the public decline and death of Brittany Maynard, a terminally ill brain cancer patient whose move to Oregon drew national attention, with the sea change in legislative and media attention. The medications most often given to patients wishing to die are Seconal and Nembutal. Just like allergy and blood pressure prescriptions in states where death with dignity is legal, local pharmacies dispense the fatal dose of barbiturates. Dying isn’t as easy as taking one or two pills: To prepare the dose, a number of capsules are opened and the contents are dumped into a glass. After pouring in a liquid, like water or juice, the drink is stirred. Depending on the person, death can occur in less than ten minutes or take hours. The person slips into unconsciousness, respiration slows, and death soon follows. Because morphine is used for palliative care—in which the primary goal is comfort— it is generally easier for terminally ill patients in hospice to access larger quantities of morphine than barbiturates in states where death with dignity is not legal. Lange and the members of her Annapolisbased support group are realists. “We talk a lot about hospice care, and how, ‘don’t worry they can always give you a lot of morphine,’” she said. “We talk in a practical sense about what the options are. It’s a kind of a sad situation that it’s a wink-wink, nod-nod that they’re going to overdose you on morphine.” That kind of overdosing sounds a bit like assisted suicide, which is a felony in some states. But in 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed “the double effect doctrine,” protecting doctors whose intent it is to help a patient—whether by
administering palliative pain relief, operating, or by some other means—from prosecution, if the doctor’s action causes the unintended “double effect” of ending the patient’s life. Intent is the key, and intent is hard to prove. The doctrine offers physicians who allow terminal patients to overdose a defense. In 1999, two years after that Supreme Court ruling, Maryland made assisted suicide a felony, punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. That law is the reason Alex Fraser died alone. On June 6, 2014, Fraser tried to overdose on Percocet, without success; he then tried to slit his wrists, but his Parkinson’s tremor made it impossible. His attempts to die continued into the next day when he managed to hold a gun steadily enough to shoot himself in the head. He was 90. Fraser had lived a full and vibrant life, the Washington Post eulogized: He founded Open University, where adults could take short-term classes, like “Parrot Psychology.” His D.C. license plate read, “ENJOY.” He knew the way he wanted to live, his oldest daughter Alexa Fraser said, and immobile and incapacitated from advanced Parkinson’s was not it. He ended his life alone to protect his family from legal complicity. He had instilled in his children that physician aid in dying should be a right. It was “the familial message,” said Alexa Fraser. The elder Fraser also had been a member of the Hemlock Society, which, in 2005, was absorbed by Compassion & Choices. Shortly after his death, Alexa contacted the organization. She was ready to go out and do whatever work they gave her, and a few weeks later, the advocacy group called asking Alexa to tell her father’s story on WAMU’s The Diane Rehm Show. The episode aired July 7, 2014, a month to the day after her father died. Continued on page 16
Around 50 people, including Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, are there to watch How to Die in Oregon, a documentary about terminally ill patients in that state, the first in the U.S. to legalize what proponents call “death with dignity.” The screening was sponsored by Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit that supports aid in dying, ahead of D.C.’s first hearing on a bill that would allow terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months to live to obtain a prescription to end their lives. “One of the things that struck me about a strategy is that I didn’t want it to be rushed,” Cheh, the bill’s introducer, tells a supporter during a post-screening Q&A. “I want to be able to talk to all of you… I don’t want this to be done lightly or cavalierly.” Also in attendance is Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander, chair of the D.C. Council’s Committee on Health and Human Services. The bill must be voted out of her committee to be considered by the full Council. Jade Wood, a D.C. resident and licensed psychotherapist, is here as well, talking about her friend Brittany Maynard. At 29, Maynard be-
came the face of the death with dignity movement as she—young, beautiful, and dying of brain cancer—decided to move to Oregon in order to end her life. “Brittany was one of my best friends. She was like a sister to me,” Wood tells the crowd. “She often said to me that, as strange as it sounded, as horrible as it was... to have such an abrupt end to her life, what was even worse for her was to think that there might be chance that she might not be able to die under her choice and under her own control.” The crowd is overwhelmingly supportive of the bill—the toughest question Cheh faces is more of a logistical query about unused medication. Support is not quite as high citywide, but according to a poll commissioned by a proaid-in-dying group, 67 percent of District residents support death with dignity; support nationwide is about the same. “I think the chief opponent of this legislation is people who don’t know what it’s really about,” Cheh says. Over the past 20 years, three states have legalized death with dignity, while courts have af-
firmed aid in dying as a right in two others. As the push continues in more than 20 states, so do the difficult, emotional, and personal conversations in legislatures across the country. And as a hearing in D.C. later that week revealed, even in a progressive city, the passage of this legislation is anything but a foregone conclusion. On the Tuesday before the bill’s first hearing, Mary Cheh is talking about death once again. It’s a topic she’ll have to discuss for the foreseeable future as she tries to get the death with dignity legislation she introduced in January passed. “It’s an odd thing about legislation sometimes,” she says. “You get a feeling that the time is right for something, and I’ve just felt the time was right for this.” Cheh, a constitutional law professor, isn’t sure when she first began thinking about the subject, but she remembers reading about the legal challenge to Oregon’s aid-in-dying law, which the Supreme Court upheld in 2006. She has a binder of research on the topic from 2011, Continued on page 18
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 15
Kelly Lange
Photographs by Darrow Montgomery
McShane Glover has known Richard E. “Dick” Israel since she was a child. He was a friend of her father’s. Israel has had a distinguished career in Maryland government, including serving 25 years as an assistant attorney general and eight years as an Annapolis alderman. Glover served on Israel’s first political campaign, when he ran for alderman in 2005, and the two became good friends. Five years ago, they began talking about his death. Israel was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1999, and for 14 years he insisted on living independently in his two-story townhouse in Annapolis’ First Ward. As his disease progressed, friends and dedicated caregivers, including Glover, worried he would suffer a bad fall at home. One day in early 2013, Israel didn’t show up for a meeting at City Hall. Colleagues contacted his friends, who went over to Israel’s house and found he had fallen and couldn’t call for help. No longer able to live alone, Israel made plans to move into Ginger Cove, an assisted living facility just outside of Annapolis. In April 2013, he resigned his position as alderman, and in May, he moved. Over the past couple years, Israel’s Parkinson’s has rapidly degenerated his body. His mind is sharp as ever, but Israel communicates now mainly by tapping out words, letter by letter, on a piece of paper that displays the alphabet. As one of his dedicated caregivers, Glover is intimately familiar with the
course of Israel’s Parkinson’s and his wishes. In December 2014, Glover approached a legislator named Shane Pendergrass and pitched the idea of right-to-die legislation. After that, the process moved quickly. When Glover asked Israel to lend his name to the bill he resisted. The legislation was for all Marylanders, not him in particular, and moreover, it was the legislation’s substance that mattered. But without a public face, Glover said, the bill wouldn’t get the attention it deserved. A little reluctantly—he was never a man to take the spotlight—Israel agreed. In March 2015, during the legislature’s public hearing on death with dignity, Glover read Israel’s statement: “I can appreciate the irony that if my advocacy is successful and I choose the ‘exit strategy’ that allows a ‘push’ of nature, my voice will be forever stilled. So be it.” On Feb. 13, 2015, both houses in Maryland’s General Assembly introduced the Richard E. “Dick” Israel and Roger “Pip” Moyer Death With Dignity Act. Moyer, the other namesake of the bill, was a former mayor of Annapolis. He died on Jan. 10, 2015 at 80, two decades after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Sen. Ron Young, who introduced the bill, opened the Senate hearing on March 10. The Judicial Proceedings Committee asked questions of the first few speakers that ranged from the philosophical to the semantic. One senator quibbled with the word “dignity” in the bill’s title and another suggested changing it to something like “death with liberty” or “death with autonomy.” And then there was Sen. Bob Cassilly. Af-
16 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
ter Young completed his testimony, Cassilly stated: “I personally have gained very much from seeing people suffer through death. It’s made me a much stronger person. Knowing that people fought for the last few seconds of their life, to hang onto their life makes me all the more appreciative and sometimes the more courageous to deal with difficulties in my own life or other people’s lives.” It wasn’t a line of reasoning Cassilly easily let go. A little while later, Stephen Sachs, who served as Maryland’s attorney general in the late-1970s and ’80s, testified about having talked with Israel. Cassilly asked again, this time with a little more kick: “Does that occur to you at all? That if this guy had punched out a couple months ago that there’s a lot of thinking and living and knowledge that those around him would not have gleaned from his dying.” Sachs was unflinching in his response. “I don’t think Dick Israel should be going through what he’s going through in order for me to be moved. He is not there for my benefit. He, not I, is the one who should make that judgment, and I don’t mean to trivialize what you said, but it’s not for our entertainment.” The first round of proponents wrapped up, and the committee turned to the opposition. Their second person to testify was O.J. Brigance, a former Baltimore Ravens linebacker and an outspoken opponent of death with dignity. In 1997, Brigance was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Most people live from three to five years after being diagnosed. Today, eight years after learning of his ALS, Brigance uses a wheelchair and speaks through a computer, like Stephen Hawking. Both men have lived longer than they could have without modern medical technology—Hawking for a remarkable five decades. “The thought that there would be a legal avenue for an individual to take his or her own life in a moment of despair, robbing friends, friends, and society of their contribution to society saddens me, and is a tragedy,” Brigance testified. “Every second of life is God-given.” It’s one of the cold realities of the 21st century that medical technology contributes to the belief that we can prevent or cure any ailment, and even stave off death. It’s the same advanced medical technology that keeps alive people who otherwise would have died a natural death—even if they wish to die. The will to live is strong, but will is not an antidote to death. At some point the end will come, and when it does, proponents of the bill say, the dying must be able to choose for him or herself. Fraser feels great empathy for Brigance, but his testimony angered her: “If it’s not for you, you don’t act… But don’t tell me what day I can choose.” A little while after Brigance testified, Kelly Lange’s turn came. The previous week, she had waited through hearings in the House, glued to a bench all day for fear of missing her turn. Now before the Senate, she strode to the podium to speak about her work as both a patient and an advocate. “I’ve seen a lot of [people] die, and sometimes it’s been pretty darn awful,” Lange said, relating how cancer metastasizes and destroys
a body. She’s on her fourth round of targeted therapy now, and she knows what’s in her future. Eventually, the medicine will fail. “I don’t want my death to be character building for someone. I want to be in control in a legal way. I want to hold my husband’s hand and be with my family, and not take my life with a shotgun or have my hospice team over-medicate me with morphine. It’s very important to those of us with advanced cancer that you give us this option,” Lange said. “We are dying in pain, and we want control over our end.” As she finished, people listening in the hall clapped, a first in a day full of testimony. Nationally, 70 percent of Americans support legalizing aid in dying, according to a 2014 Gallup poll. In Maryland, 60 percent of the public supports policy that would allow physicians to prescribe terminally ill patients, whose prognosis is less than six months, a fatal dosage of medication, according to a Goucher Poll conducted in February 2015. Thirty-five percent of Marylanders oppose the policy. The split doesn’t fall along party lines. The most significant demographic divide is a relatively strong indirect correlation between church attendance and support. Eighty percent of people who rarely or never attend church support the bill, while only 37 percent of people who attend church once or more a week support it. About a third of the current Maryland legislature is composed of freshmen. And though a majority of Americans support legalizing aid in dying, Pendergrass guessed that her death with dignity bill was too controversial for most new legislators, particularly before they’d had a chance to go home and talk with their constituents. Come next session, she will introduce an updated version of the bill. But Pendergrass noted that just because there might be changes, the opposition won’t just melt away. “There is no fix to satisfy people [who are] in favor of taking away the right of self determination from dying people, beyond killing the bill,” she says. As more states consider right-to-die legislation and more Brittany Maynard’s tell their stories, the face of the movement will change. Maynard was a big first step. She was young and she spoke with a clear voice. Her eyes sparkled and her skin glowed, but still, she was dying. She was emotional but also levelheaded about death. She didn’t want to die, but she knew she was going to, and she wanted to control her suffering. At 52, Kelly Lange doesn’t look ill, but the cancer’s there, and slowly it’ll learn how to survive her current therapy. She has a few treatment options once it does, and she wants very much to live, but she knows that eventually her time will run out. “I think the time is right,” she said of the legislation. “People are becoming more openminded, that the choices other people make aren’t as scary... I don’t know if I would use it or not, because I don’t know what [dying] is CP going to be like.”
ALLEN A. FLOOD, M.D. DERMATOLOGY
ANTHONY A. FLOOD, M.D.
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Susan Farris
a relic of a previous idea to introduce legislation. But now, with the battles for marriage equality and legalized marijuana in the District over—plus the national conversation on end-of-life choices sparked by Maynard’s death—the time seems right. “What motivates me, it is kind of compassion,” Cheh says. “I have a libertarian streak in me that says you ought to have that control.” Both Compassion & Choices and the Death with Dignity National Center, an Oregon nonprofit, are supporting Cheh’s effort. While in D.C., Death with Dignity Executive Director Peg Sandeen met with Alexander and “one or two” other councilmembers, Cheh says, to of-
fer firsthand knowledge of how the legislation has been used in Oregon. “A lot of this is based on worries that really are not well grounded,” Cheh says of opposition to the bill. “I think the opponent here is not any particular group, but misunderstanding about what the bill does.” D.C.’s legislation is not revolutionary. As in many other jurisdictions that have or are considering aid in dying, D.C.’s bill is modeled off what was approved in Oregon in 1994 and put into effect in 1997. After adult patients with a “terminal illness”— defined as an “incurable and irreversible disease”— are given a prognosis of six months or less to live and informed of the alternatives (like hospice), they may seek a prescription from a physician for aid-in-dying medication. Patients must make two oral requests and submit a written request witnessed by two people, one of whom isn’t related to the patient or isn’t entitled to part of their estate. A physician or mental health professional must
18 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
deem a patient “capable,” meaning he or she is “not suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment.” In addition, a physician must verify in writing that the patient is acting voluntarily. Opponents call it physician-assisted suicide, while proponents argue against using the term: While the medication is prescribed by a doctor, patients must ultimately mix the pills with a liquid and consume it on their own. Physician participation is voluntary. “Doctors say, ‘Do no harm.’ How does that translate when you’re in the end stages of a painful disease and you need a doctor to give you a prescription?” asks Cheh. “What’s do no harm? Is it harmful to say no?” Cheh mentions Diane Rehm, a D.C. native who’s hosted her own show on WAMU since 1979. Rehm took a stance in favor of aid in dying after her husband of 54 years, John Rehm, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, sought a way to end his life and was told by his doctor the
only thing to do was abstain from food and water. He died ten days later. “I thought, ‘Oh dear God, I just can’t bear this. I can’t stand the thought of him having to go through this.’ But he was so brave,” Rehm told Compassion & Choices. (Rehm says via email she won’t take a public position on D.C.’s bill.) In the nearly 18 years since Oregon’s bill went into effect, Cheh and advocates say the opposition’s fears—coercion of the elderly and people with disabilities, inadequate safeguards against prescribing medication to a person with depression, an increase in suicides—haven’t panned out. Since 1997, 1,327 patients in Oregon have legally obtained death with dignity prescriptions, and 859 used the medication. Of the 859, 91.5 percent relayed concerns about losing autonomy, 88.7 percent said they weren’t able to engage in activities that made life enjoyable, and 40 percent said they were a burden on family and caregivers. Just 3.2 percent cited financial concerns. If death with dignity was legalized, Cheh says she doesn’t know if she would seek a prescription if she was terminally ill. But she does hope the bill, as well as another measure that would allow patients to obtain a Medical Order for Scope of Treatment, will spur families to have formal end-of-life conversations, something she admits she’s neglected to do with her daughters. “We ought to confront it for ourselves, but also for our families,” she says. While Cheh believes a terminally ill person has the right to choose aid in dying, expanding that choice to people with chronic diseases, like dementia, is not in her plan. Beyond being “politically much too heavy a lift,” Cheh says that extension “might raise enough fears that people would be disturbed by the existence of the legislation.” “I’m not asking that we go that far—nor do I intend to ask,” she says. “This is not a step on a path. It is of itself what it is, just like it’s been in Oregon.” Cheh says she plans to do some form of outreach this summer to educate residents on exactly what the bill does—and doesn’t—do. In the fall, she expects the bill to continue its move through the Council. But Cheh recognizes that, even with discussion after discussion, not everyone will come around. “If then they have some ideological opposition, then we’re stuck.” On July 10, the Council’s Committee on Health and Human Services convened a hearing on the Death with Dignity Act. Seventy people signed up to testify; the hearing lasted more than nine hours. The positions of the people in the packed Council chamber were apparent from the slogans on their stickers. In red T-shirts with the phrase “#AlwaysDignified” printed on the back were supporters of No DC Suicide, a coalition of groups opposed to the legislation. As the hearing began, Cheh once again expressed her support for the measure, as did Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May. (Other health committee members David Grosso and Brianne
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 19
Farris and other witnesses testify in front of Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Yvette Alexander.
Nadeau did not attend the hearing.) “This bill is not intended, nor does it, incite or ignite fear for our residents—it actually does the opposite. It gives us options,” May said. “I’m confident that the provisions... protect people, protect those who simply want the option to transition in comfort and voluntarily.” Not confident, however, was Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the D.C. Department of Health, who voiced concerns about the legislation’s “questionable” efficacy in Oregon, the ability of prescription-writing physicians to determine competency, and possible public suicides. “Would the proponents of this bill really contemplate allowing individuals to carry out their deaths in public areas in Washington, D.C.?” Nesbitt said. “Consider the scenario where a person’s dying wishes are to view the sunset over the Lincoln Memorial while taking their last breath. In the movies, the music rises, the scene fades, and credits roll. The reality, however, involves unpleasant tasks such as transporting the deceased and completing death certificates. In addition, while the drafters
of the Oregon bill may have contemplated a natural surrounding in the Northwest Territories of the United States, the District attracts 19 million tourists a year and assisted deaths in highly visible and highly public areas could easily lead to public distress and disorder.” Nesbitt’s concerns continued: “It is very difficult for a physician to accurately predict the six-month window for terminal illness”; “this bill, and laws like it elsewhere, do not provide for any specific criteria for terminal illness”; “another area of grave concern… is the real potential for abuse.” “At the end of the day, we can all agree that there are worse things in life than death,” Nesbitt said. “However, the Death with Dignity legislation catapults the District into unchartered territories that we are not yet prepared to navigate.” Over the nine hours, proponents like Maynard’s husband, Dan Diaz, Richard Rosendall of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, and Monica Hopkins-Maxwell of the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital provided testimony. Some of the residents in support of the bill were elder-
20 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
ly, including a Ward 3 couple who, trading sentences, declared that they would help each other die when the time came. Two were lawyers, including Supreme Court litigator and Washington National Opera board member Jim Feldman. The only reverends to testify that day both did so in support. But just one person that day could testify to what’s it’s like to live facing a terminal illness. Susan Farris, a 16-year resident of the District, was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer in January 2012. By that point, the cancer had spread to her liver. She was 47. “The joke was when they looked at my liver— or my joke was, because humor is the only way I can deal with this—was that, when they looked at my liver readouts, the heading should have said, ‘Insert tombstone here,’” she told reporters before the Council hearing. Her initial treatment was disabling. “I was so exhausted that I was no longer able to really leave my house,” she said. “I had such bad neuropathy in my hands and feet that I would just fall over just walking down the street. Luckily, I discovered I had strong bones—I literally fell onto my face one time thinking
I would crush my cheekbone… That was a horrific experience, and certainly a preview of what was to come.” Farris decided to end her chemotherapy treatment after five months, but, luckily, the cancer was stable. On targeted therapies, Farris is doing well: She’s still able to work and go out with friends. But she knows it won’t last forever, and the treatments necessary to prolong her life will become progressively more “toxic” and debilitating. “I don’t want to die. I have no interest in dying. I am fighting like hell to stay alive,” she said. “I don’t even want to talk about dying. In fact, I wasn’t really happy to be coming here today. But I consider this a service to come here.” In front of the committee, Farris expressed her surprise at the number of opponents in the chamber. “I’m a bit nervous about this whole situation, one because there are so many people in the room who oppose something so vital to me. It kind of blew my mind.” The many opponents who testified that day were united by shared concerns. Doctors from MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and Providence Hospital (both affiliated with the
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Catholic church), as well as one from Howard University, argued that prescribing a medication to end a life was diametrically opposed to their mission to save patients. “Physician-assisted suicide… goes against everything we are as doctors,” said Dr. Sarah Murry of MedStar Georgetown. Advocates for people with disabilities, including representatives from The Arc of DC and the National Council on Independent Living, argued that there aren’t enough safeguards in place to protect a vulnerable population already predisposed to depression. “Depressed people will be harmed by this bill,” testified Anne Sommers of Not Dead Yet, raising concerns about “doctor shopping,” or seeking out a doctor solely to prescribe aid-indying medication. The safeguards in the bill, Sam Crane of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network said outside the chamber, aren’t enough “to ameliorate our concerns that people with significant disabilities as a result of illness would find themselves with no choice other than assisted suicide.” That feeling could come from concerns about finances and being a burden, she said. There are also “internalized… negative attitudes” about disabilities that can lead to suicidal thoughts in people who are later happy they didn’t take their own lives. That was the case for Georges Aguehounde of the DC Center for Independent Living, who was paralyzed in the early ’90s after being struck by a driver. “I wished I was dead,” he testified, but was ultimately glad he didn’t take his life. Like Aguehounde, artist Bill Warrell, who co-founded the legendary restaurant and music venue d.c. space, approached the witness table in his wheelchair. At age 9, he was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare group of disorders that affects connective tissues. Warrell said he’s received hundreds of stitches to repair his thin skin, suffers from early-onset arthritis, and is in constant pain. “One objection to this legislation being argued by organizations purporting to represent me and other likes me is the notion that people with disabilities will be pressured to choose to die by those who might profit from their death. What foolishness to think that passing a bill is a ‘slippery slope’ allowing euthanasia for the disabled,” he testified. “I myself, considerably disabled, I do not have these fears. My only fear is not having the right or freedom to control my own destiny.” Warrell said he recently visited Seattle and Portland, cities in states where death with dignity is legal, to consider relocation. But he wants to remain in D.C. “I am fully prepared for the inevitable death that comes to us all. If I know mine is coming, and I believe it will be painful and prolonged, I want to be able to ask my doctor for an aid-indying prescription. What I really want to know is that I will be able to do that right here in D.C., in this beautiful and ugly city that I love.” With the Council on recess until midSeptember, the death with dignity debate will move away from the Wilson Building, but it
won’t recede entirely. Compassion & Choices will continue to host film screenings, according to Regional Campaign and Outreach Manager Brandi Alexander, and use the time to “educate the Council and build up support in the District.” No DC Suicide is urging its supporters to contact members of the Committee on Health and Human Services to express their opposition to the bill. Whether the bill will move out of committee in the fall remains to be seen. Councilmember Alexander says she’s heard the concerns from senior citizens and people with disabilities and has concerns of her own. “My concern was the medical perspective on things, hospitals and physicians that were not supportive of this,” Alexander says, “because this is a bill that requires a cooperation of our medical community… Moving forward, we have to get that concern out of the way.” She notes that the Bowser administration does not appear to support the bill in its current form, and the “majority of my colleagues... don’t seem to be comfortable even with the bill.” Cheh is focused on ensuring that Alexander moves the bill to be marked up later this year. While adjustments to the legislation wouldn’t be made until that point, Cheh says she heard a “quite reasonable” suggestion from Councilmember Anita Bonds to add a provision that recommends people of faith seeking the medication consult their faith community. Even though the bill requires DOH to draft regulations if the bill is passed, there may be room to be more specific in the legislation about the disposal of unused medication, a possible fix for another concern. “The fundamental soundness of the bill is, I think, attested to by the experience in Oregon and places where it’s applicable,” she says. “While we can learn from others’ adjustments or changes, I think they’ve come out with a very good bill in operation that has worked quite well.” Of the objections the medical community raised at the hearing, Cheh points to the 54 percent of support among doctors nationwide for death with dignity. “I’m sure there are doctors who are opposed to other types of medical procedures, but the movement is clearly in the direction of allowing people to choose.” As of press time, Cheh’s office had not spoken with DOH in the days after the hearing. But the councilmember wants to vanquish any concerns raised by Nesbitt, whose testimony may not have been “as well considered” as it should have been, she says. Nesbitt’s hypothetical Lincoln Memorial suicide “struck me as one of these parade of horribles that have no basis in fact,” Cheh says. “It’s designed to raise something that’s not an issue.” Cheh also takes issue with Nesbitt’s idea that the District would enter “unchartered territories” by passing the bill. “We can’t look at the years of experience [in other states] and say ‘D.C. is unique.’” “We are unique in many ways,” she adds, “but we’re not unique in the need of people to have choice, and we’re not unique in the need for compassion for people on CP death’s doorstep.”
22 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
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Special Occasions By Kaarin Vembar
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Becoming a Local You know the Metro map by heart and can list the best happy hours by neighborhood. Honor your local status with a Nationals Park illustration. Print of “Washington DC” by Enid Romanek, $22. Groovy DC Cards & Gifts. 321 7th St. SE. (202) 544-6633
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DCFEED
Farewell, Bandolero. The troubled Mexican restaurant in Georgetown has closed. Read more at washingtoncitypaper.com/go/bandolero.
YOUNG & HUNGRY
Dubbel Your Pleasure Neighborhood Restaurant Group wants to reinvent the Belgian beer bar with the Sovereign. By Jessica Sidman
Greg Engert plans to highlight a dozen smaller Belgian breweries producing traditional beer flavors.
Darrow Montgomery
Belgian brews are a big reason why Greg Engert—one of D.C.’s top beer authorities—got interested in craft beer more than a decade ago. “That was really what showed me what beer could be,” the Neighborhood Restaurant Group beer director says. Belgian drinking culture is also what made Engert pay attention to the interplay of beer and food, which strongly influenced the menu at Birch & Barley. “They were the culture that treated their beer far more respectfully, I think, and more in a high-minded and wine-like manner,” he says. He continues to visit the country every year or so and has befriended many Belgian brewers, chefs, and publicans. All of that has built up to Neighborhood Restaurant Group opening a Belgian bar and bistro in Georgetown called the Sovereign. Engert will, of course, oversee the beer, while former PS7’s chef Peter Smith will head the kitchen. The place is coming to the former Blue Gin space at 1206 Wisconsin Ave. NW in late fall. Years in the making, Engert says he considers the Sovereign as ambitious and personally rewarding as building the 500-plus beer list at ChurchKey and Birch & Barley or getting into the brewing game with Bluejacket. “I can guarantee it will be unlike any other Belgian place,” Engert says. While most Belgian bars will have a few beers from a lot of places, Engert aims to have a lot of beers from a few places. Specifically, the Sovereign will offer around 50 drafts and 250 bottles, but the menu will focus largely on only a dozen smallish breweries that produce traditional flavors of a somewhat bygone era. Unfortunately, beers like these are not always easy to find. In the last hundred-plus years, the number of Belgian breweries has dramatically shrunk. In the early 20th century, there were more than 3,000 breweries in Belgium, a country the size of Maryland. Today, there are only around 150. Compare that to the United States: In 1980, one of the low points post-Prohibition, there were fewer than 100 breweries here, according to the Brewers Association. Now, there are more than 3,400—and counting. So, what happened in Belgium? For starters, many of breweries were tiny, provincial, family-run operations that weren’t very profitable. “They basically just made ends meet
and survived,” Engert says. In many cases, their sons and daughters weren’t interested in continuing to make traditional beers for the sake of carrying on traditions. Meanwhile, some breweries consolidated into marketingsavvy mega-companies that now dominate the Belgian beer scene. They are the ones whose names you’ll see plastered all over glassware and umbrellas. “Those that have survived have in some ways done so because they have been better at business,” Engert says. “Being better at business in the Belgian sense means they stopped being craft in the true sense of the term.” The result has been a relative uniformity of Belgian flavor profiles, Engert says. While Belgium has many different styles of beer—lambic, gueuze, saison, Flemish red, dub-
bel, tripel, and so on—Engert says there’s not always a lot of differentiation within those styles. The most readily accessible Belgian beers might be delicious, but they’re also similar to one another. Plus, Engert says, many big breweries have dumbed down their beers to appeal to the mass tastes of the 21st century. Pilsners became big, so breweries began making a lot pilsners of varying degrees of quality. Sour beers became sweeter. Hoppy beers became less hoppy. Aged beers were not left to mature as long as they should. Some of the nuance was lost. “Sometimes when they’re strong, they’re confusing intensity with complexity,” Engert says. Thirty years ago, Europeans looked down on macrobrewery-dominated American beer, while Americans idolwashingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 25
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DCFEED(cont.) ized beers from places like Belgium. But the tables have turned: “It got stagnant, and that’s what’s so strange,” Engert says. He adds that Belgium doesn’t have the same craft culture that America now does. Beer has been so widely available that most Belgians never thought to fetishize it. “What we think of as Belgian beer globally—and there too—is more of a facsimile of what traditional Belgian beer culture has been.” Some breweries, however, have survived by making dry, complex beers like they did in the old days. Cantillon, for example, has produced traditional lambics—dry, acidic, and mildly funky—for more than a century. Engert says these beers were impossible for him to sell in 2004 when he was working at the Brickskeller—“we couldn’t give them away.” Now, they’re coming back into vogue, and he’ll sell as much of the stuff as he can get his hands on at the Sovereign. There are also some “revivalist” breweries—De la Senne, De Ranke, and Kerkom, to name a few—that have opened over the last 25 to 30 years in Belgium in order to bring back flavors that were beginning to disappear. “They started breweries against really any fiscal sense to revive these beers. To me, that’s so reminiscent of what’s been going on in America over the last 35 years,” Engert says. “It’s strange that those brewers aren’t celebrated here, let alone in their own country.” Many of these breweries do not have much of a U.S. presence in large part because they are small operations producing 1,000 to 4,000 barrels a year—similar to Bluejacket, which sold 2,400 barrels of beer on-site last year. But they also don’t have marketing machines and American salesmen behind them. “They spend their energy on making the beers and then they hope like-minded individuals will seek them out,” Engert says. Engert is one of those like-minded individuals, and he is committed to carrying every drop he can from these breweries. He’s in a unique position to do so not just because of the friendships he’s made with brewers and importers, but also due to the reputation he’s built for treating beers with care. The Sovereign, like ChurchKey, will have temperature controls on all of the draft lines plus a “wine cave for beer” to age certain brews. “[The brewers] admire what we do… Though they make very little beer, they want to make sure that we have it and consistently have it,” he says. To have a place to showcase so many of their beers will also be a big deal to the smaller breweries. “If they can get their beer on draft at a place, it’s a keg here and there. They literally can’t believe that there’s a place where they’re going to see all their beer yearround,” Engert says. Beyond the dozen or so breweries at cen-
terstage, the Sovereign will also carry a rotating selection of drafts and bottles from a few more of the “most exciting up-and-coming” Belgian brewers (including Alvinne, Jandrain-Jandrenouille, and Sainte-Hélène) as well as Belgian-style ales from breweries in Canada (Dieu du Ciel), Italy (Toccalmatto), and the U.S. (Jolly Pumpkin, Crooked Stave, Allagash). Just as serious as the beer is how it’s served: The Sovereign will import special glassware to match specific types of beer, but also have lambic baskets, which look kind of like wicker picnic baskets, that are used to hold bottles on their side so the yeast stays inside as you pour. In January, Engert, chef Smith, Director of Operations Erik Bergman, and NRG owner Michael Babin traveled to Belgium for a couple weeks to research the beer and cuisine, visiting two to three breweries a day and eating all over. The trip strongly informed the menu for the two-story bar and bistro. Braises, which sometimes get a bad rap for being syrupy, rich, and heavy, can also be light and bright—something the group noticed in Belgium and hopes to carry over to the Sovereign with lapin à la kriek (rabbit in cherry beer). Bluejacket will brew its own sour cherry beer, a version of kriek, for the dish. Another specialty they ate during the trip was saucisse ardennaise—a lightly smoked pork sausage. Luckily for them, NRG is home to Red Apron Butcher’s Nate Anda, who will develop his own recipe using traditional Belgian methods but with local pork. Anda will also collaborate with Smith to produce other lesser known Flemish and Wallonian charcuterie and sausages for the menu. Engert has long maintained that mussels just taste different—better—in Belgium. The first place the group went when they arrived in Belgium was a little cafe where everyone spoke exclusively French. “We ordered everything, and the thing that blew us away more than anything else was how different the mussels are,” Engert says. These plump, rich, creamy, and briny mollusks are called Dutch mussels because they come from the Dutch North Sea or are grown according to Dutch methods. Whereas most mussels we eat are grown on poles, these are grown on the sea floor. Smith was able to track down a fifth-generation Dutch mussel farmer whose Acadia Aqua Farms in Maine sells “Dutchstyle” mussels. The restaurant will get its mollusks exclusively from them. “That is kind of indicative of what we’re doing here,” Engert says “We are reinventing the wheel. Actually, that is what we’re CP trying to do.” Eatery tips? Food pursuits? Send suggestions to jsidman@washingtoncitypaper.com.
DCFEED
what we ate last week:
Roasted duck with egg noodles and Chinese broccoli, $14, Soi 38. Satisfaction level: 4 out of 5
what we’ll eat next week:
Nettle and ricotta ravioli with chanterelles, $26, Garrison. Excitement level: 4 out of 5
Grazer
Shaw Biz
2 16 10
8. The Dabney
1222 9th St. NW (Blagden Alley) Chef Jeremiah Langhorne aims to pay tribute to the region’s local ingredients and history with a wood-fired hearth and many foraged ingredients.
8th St.
9th St.
er bar or restaurant coming to
V St.
11 15 Florid aA 1 ve.
8. Columbia Room
It seems like hardly a week goes by without news of yet anoth-
THE’WICHINGHOUR
7th St.
Shaw. In fact, there are nearly 20
1222 9th St. NW (Blagden Alley) Bar owner Derek Brown expands his cocktail haven in a new home above the Dabney.
places expected to open with-
ve. dA
in the next year or so—from fine
lan e Is
d
Rho
dining to casual Chinese to pizza. Keep track with this handy map.
12 6
5
—Jessica Sidman
1. Glen’s Garden Market
1924 8th St. NW The locally focused grocer will have a bar and expanded patio at its second locale.
4
14 13
9
7 8
4. Chao Ku
1414 9th St. NW Broad Branch Market co-owner John Fielding and former Tabard Inn chef Paul Pelt are creating a casual Chinese spot in homage to their favorite suburban haunts.
5. Shaw Bijou
N St.
10. Declaration
Bread: Olive oil brioche bun
1550 7th St. NW French wine, charcuterie, and cheese are the main attraction.
13. Convivial L St.
3
7. Buttercream Bakeshop
1250 9th St. NW Pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac will sell cakes, cookies, and other gourmet sweets.
7. All Purpose
1544 9th St. NW An alum of New York’s Eleven Madison Park and Per Se helms the kitchen at this tasting menu-only restaurant.
6. The Passenger
7. Espita Mezcaleria
1250 9th St. NW The Mexican restaurant will combine a variety of mezcals and Oaxacan food.
801 O St. NW The team behind Mintwood Place aims to create a more casual eatery.
14. Bacaro
1440 8th St. NW This wine bar comes from Robert Gadsby, who also owns RG’s BBQ Cafe in Laurel, Md.
15. Freehand
1934 8th St. NW The French-Asian bistro is the latest from Water & Wall and Maple Ave Restaurant chef Tim Ma.
16. Hazel
808 V St. NW Former Tallula chef Rob Rubba will oversee the “progressive American” menu of this Neighborhood Restaurant Group eatery.
Where: Beefsteak, 800 22nd St. NW Price: $4.99 Stuffings: Beefsteak tomato, pickled red onion, sprouts, caper-and-herb mayo, olive oil, sea salt
804 V St. NW From the owners of Lincoln and Teddy & the Bully Bar comes a restaurant with pizzas named after the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
12. La Jambe
1250 9th St. NW The owners of Boundary Road and the Red Hen are teaming up to open an Italian-American spot focused on pizza.
1539 7th St. NW The beloved cocktail bar from Tom Brown will make its triumphant return in 2016.
The Sandwich: The Beefsteak Sandwich
Thickness: 4 inches
715 Florida Ave. NW The owners of the Huxley will open an American restaurant with a rooftop beer garden.
3. Kinship
1015 7th St. NW The solo venture from former CityZen chef Eric Ziebold and his wife will have two concepts on different levels. Expect some fine dining.
920 N St. NW (Blagden Alley) Philadelphia-based restaurateur Jose Garces, also behind Rural Society, will serve up American classics with a twist.
11. Takoda
2. Unnamed restaurant from Daikaya owners
2112 8th St. NW The Daikaya crew is opening another ramen joint but it won’t be a replica of their Chinatown original.
9. Village Whiskey
Pros: Everything in this sandwich tastes like it was just pulled out of the ground, even though you’ll watch servers assembling it from ingredients just pulled out of the fridge. The tangy tomato provides the sandwich’s dominant flavor and is complemented by the pleasantly salty and not-too-thick caper mayo. Pickled onions provide a touch of sweetness, while the sprouts on top give some necessary crunch. Cons: While most brioche has a silky, pillowy texture, this olive oil version tastes dry, then becomes soggy when it comes in contact with the veggies and spreads. The ingredients slip around within the sandwich, so every bite isn’t exactly balanced. Sloppiness level (1 to 5): 4. Despite its simple list of ingredients, this sandwich has some serious structural problems. In addition to oozing sauce, bits of onion and tendrils of sprouts slip out every time you move the sandwich. Be prepared to regularly reassemble. Overall score (1 to 5): 4. Slightly bigger than a slider but smaller than your usual burger, this sandwich makes a perfect snack. A fluffier bun would send it over the edge, but the next time you’re hanging around Foggy Bottom and in need of a quick bite, Beefsteak will certainly hit the spot. —Caroline Jones
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 27
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CPARTS
For one blessed night in D.C., construction cranes danced in unison. washingtoncitypaper.com/go/crane
Tools’ Errand
Will the D.C. Public Library’s audio recording and 3-D printing labs benefit local artists? By Lisa Rowan The staircases at the D.C. Public Library’s main branch, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, are winding and dark. You’re likely to hear an unfamiliar patron say, “Am I supposed to be in here?” as she wanders between floors, double checking that she’s not pushing open an alarmed fire exit door. But on a second-floor landing, behind an unmarked door and a badge reader, lies a bright, open room filled with long, high worktables. This is DCPL’s Fabrication Lab. What started as a lone 3-D printer in 2013 has expanded to a row of eight, and a host of other software-equipped tools fill the room’s perimeter. A laser cutter, computer numerical control machine, and 3-D scanner have been added; librarygoers can use them to make objects that range from tiny household gadgets to large works of art. The space and time are free, and materials like 3-D printer filament are available through the library at cost. Sample projects on display in the Fab Lab include a 3-D printed cup holder that could snap onto a bicycle handle and a wooden trinket box embellished with a laser-cut image of kittens. As the DIY-meets–tech maker movement grows, DCPL is positioning its labs as an experiment for the library’s future. DCPL Digital Commons Manager Nick Kerelchuk spoke at SXSW this spring on a panel about the role of libraries as coworking spaces. In early June, two DCPL Digital Commons
librarians hosted a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, in which they discussed applications of 3-D printing alongside concerns about meeting the needs of all of MLK Library’s visitors, including the homeless. The Fab Lab and the Studio Lab, a space for audio recording, offer high-tech equipment in a collaborative environment. In the Fab Lab, anyone with a library card can get free software training to design projects that can be completed with the help of 3-D scanners and other equipment—stuff that’s typically too expensive or space-hogging to invest in for a home or small art studio. DCPL staffers visited the Cleveland Public Library’s TechCentral MakerSpace, which has a similar focus on A/V and creative tools, to inspire the MLK Library workshops. “Librarianship is changing,” Kerelchuk says. Libraries are shifting their goals in response to patrons’ needs. Providing reading material is still at the core of DCPL’s mission, sure, but library administrators also feel compelled to offer advanced technical training that visitors have requested. “Libraries lose people in their late teens,” DCPL Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan says. “Kids use libraries a ton while they’re in school, but there’s a big drop-off around the time they go to college or get their first job. Then they come back once they have kids. We want to bridge that gap by developing programming that attracts patrons and keeps them coming back.” Tucked into the teen space at the other end of the second
Photographs by Darrow Montgomery
Free space and time with high-tech tools could expand an artist’s practice.
floor, the Studio Lab offers three reservable spaces that have replaced old staff offices; the largest is spacious enough to fit a five-piece band. When timeslots open up in the near future, it’ll be a place to capture music, podcasts, or stories for the library’s ongoing D.C. oral history project. The Studio Lab spaces aren’t completely soundproof, but DCPL will take further measures to that end when the Studio and Fab Labs move during the building’s projected $200 million renovation. This first iterations of the Studio and Fab Lab spaces are largely portable, with equipment that can be dropped into the renovated labs space. “We didn’t do much—we stripped the carpet, added equipment, painted the wall,” Kerelchuk says. “A lot of the time you don’t need a fancy shop. You just need a workbench.” Post-renovation, the labs will occupy about 17,000 square feet of the MLK Library, five times their current size. “It’s a great time to be messing around,” Reyes-Gavilan said as he surveyed the green screen and electronic drum kit in the Studio Lab last month, which was helped along with a $20,000 contribution from Google. (The labs cost a total of $490,000 to build out.) “The space is raw, but has great energy, and that really speaks to the concept of experimentation.” By testing equipment and programming options now, DCPL staff will have a better idea of how to best use a larger, more visible setting in the future. Drop Electric percussionist Alan Kayanan, who’s performed with several local recording artists, knows how valuable studio time can be. But if a musician wants to capture his sound at the library, he might have to recruit some collaborators. “When you look at the equipment, who’s going to operate that? Who’s going to make sure the dials are in the right spot?” Kayanan says. “Without an engineer, it’s just useless equipment.” Commercial studio time can cost from $50 to $300 per hour, but a limited amount of free space, as the library offers, can come with the pressure to create quickly. Kayanan thinks the Studio Lab is best for quick one-off recordings, or for student practice and experimentation. “I doubt I’ll see one of my contemporaries saying, ‘Want to washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 29
CPARTS Continued
check out my new album? I recorded it at the library!’” Kayanan says. “If someone wanted to pioneer that, I could see it being a thing. But I can’t imagine it. It takes as long as it takes to make the good stuff.” There are other places in D.C. to get high-tech creative, of course. HacDC, located at St. Stephen’s on Newton Street NW, has offered free workshops and open-house sessions since 2008. Back then, half the time a user spent on a 3-D printer was machine maintenance work, HacDC Vice President Matthew Hines recalls. Today’s users who want round-the-clock access to HacDC equipment can buy $60-per-month memberships. At Arlington’s TechShop, a 22,000 square-foot workshop spread out along the ground floor of the Crystal City Shops, 24/7 memberships start at $150 per month, and classes start at $35 for software or machinery training. “It’s a collaborative environment,” General Manager Gadsden Merrill says. “It’s not a place for introverts. People will walk up to you and ask what you’re working on.” Access to sexy new technology can spur creative projects, but the thrill of a shiny new machine could be distracting. Jeremy Flick, Washington Project for the Arts’ membership director, says WPA’s member tour of TechShop in April was fully booked. Getting to test out new tools and the spaces that provide them “allows [artists] the ability to experiment and
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see what they’re capable of doing without investing a lot of money,” Flick says. Finding time to learn and experiment may be a greater barrier for creatives than access. “A lot of working artists have full-time jobs or are balancing multiple part-time jobs,” Flick says. Getting in when the library’s open, with enough time to work on ongoing or large-scale projects, can be a challenge. And what if the labs are occupied? Because of their limited availability and machines that may whir away for several hours to complete project components, playing around with DCPL’s tools could mean waiting in line. Kerelchuck hopes to expand the Fab Lab’s hours to meet demand and says he’ll use patron feedback to guide the schedule in coming months. Reyes-Gavilan’s long-term goal is to connect equipment and software training in a series of courses that could lead to certification through DCPL. A focus on training tech skills could be an economic driver for the city. For now, the library is just embracing experimentation—its goals are fuzzy in part because its own staff members are still learning. They need to be well-versed enough in the labs’ machinery and software to teach orientation classes that patrons take before using a 3-D printer or laser cutter. There’s always troubleshooting to do, too. “The [library] administration understands that we’re going to fail. We’re going to make mistakes. Our motto in Labs is, ‘we break it better,’” Kerelchuk says. “This technology is emerging for a reason, and being able to learn from it is the most exciting thing about this department.” Tech dabblers can get excited about DCPL’s new labs— 3-D printing and green screens are fun. At the library, though, they’re still a long way from boosting the city’s creative economy. But the library could turn out to be the perfect home for tools of the Fab Lab variety. “These machines are finicky, and unless you’re using [them] all the time, they’re going to
be antiquated pretty quickly,” says artist and teacher Mike Iacovone. “Having a centralized location where they’re used all the time, with the right upkeep—that’s the way it should be.” Iacovone and artist Billy Friebele will kick off the library’s Maker-in-Residence Program this fall, presenting a series of classes at MLK Library and the Tenleytown branch. The pair’s FreeSpace Collective has previously curated visual art projects at the MLK Library. Their training will focus on programming Arduino microcontrollers, which can control lights and sounds, or even operate household items. As part of the residency, Iacovone and Friebele will complete a major project—like making a robot or video game—during the year-long program. For Iacovone, the democratic ethos of the maker movement matches up with the library’s mission. “The playing field is so level that you can truly make whatever you can think of,” he says. “It’s not about art; it’s not about engineering. It’s about everything.” Bekah Kitterman, an artist who primarily creates prints on textiles, is happy to explore ways to move her 2-D creations into 3-D format. The price is right, too. “To be able to come to a public library to use these machines is really exciting,” she says, noting the prohibitive investment required to sign up for a space like TechShop. “At the library, you can build up your skill level and then scale to use one of those [other] maker spaces.” But a month after Kitterman toured the Labs, she’s still waiting to get her hands dirty. She attended a brief orientation that included a check of her library card, but hasn’t been able to sign up for equipment training because schedules haven’t been released. “I’ve been stalking [the library’s] Facebook page in hopes of getting a further glimpse, and started collecting ideas on Pinterest,” she says, “But that’s all the CP closer I’ve gotten.”
CPARTS Arts Desk
Someone tagged a portrait of Bill Cosby with the word “rapist” in the Smithsonian’s online database. washingtoncitypaper.com/go/cosby
Pair for the Dramatic
This weekend, the Capital Fringe Festival will stage its final scheduled shows. (Some audience favorites, to be announced on July 26, will return next week for encore performances.) Haven’t used your festival button enough? Cram in a some last-minute plays or storytelling series with these thematic double-headers. —Christina Cauterucci
Ripple of Hope Ten Principles )’(
Salvation Road
In the first show, hear the stories of five young adults—The Jumper, The Hanger, The Shooter, The Pill Popper, and The Cutter— who kill themselves. In the second, find out which of four friends will be the 315th person to jump to their death from the George Washington Bridge. Schedule a therapy session after the lights go up.
Hero Complex Ripple of Hope: One Teacher’s Journey to Make an Impact
The former is about a guy who truly believes he’s a superhero. Solo artist Karen Sklaire promotes the latter as “a true-life story about a drama teacher struggling to engage her inner city students with everything from gangsta improvs to a rap version of Annie.” Twinsies!
Ten Principles )’( Dust to Dust
Xtraction Salvation Road
Call it the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt effect: Both of these plays center on dudes trying to “save” their unwilling siblings from cults.
Burlesque Classique’s Vaudevillian Romp Death and the Mermaid
Though only the romp promises any actual baring of bods, both shows advertise with mirror-image drawings of ample booties. It’s hard to imagine what the mermaid’s bottom half looks like, given her very distinct posterior. Can a sea creature have two separate butt cheeks but no legs? Find out this weekend, I guess.
The Suicide Journals 315
Death and the Mermaid and Vaudevillian Romp
At the end of next month, ravers and startup bros alike will descend on the dusty Nevada desert to create a utopian world of art and radical generosity. If you haven’t already been subjected to Burning Man devotees waxing reverent on the playa, you can pay $17 for the privilege at Ten Principles )’(. Dust to Dust, a musical about a farmer and a jazz vocalist, pairs well for the title alone.
The Suicide Journals washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 31
TheaTerCurtain Calls Boy eats girl
Twenty-three years have passed since The Silence of the Lambs swept the Academy Awards—long enough that it might not be the first thing you think of upon encountering the exclamatory abbreviation Silence! So for clarity’s sake, you are herewith advised that Silence! Is! A stage parody of Jonathan Demme’s movie of Thomas Harris’ novel... ....about a female FBI trainee on the trail of a killer who’s sewing himself a “woman suit” from the skins of the plus-sized young ladies he’s abducted and starved. You may recall that to catch that sicko, she must bargain for the aid of an even more dangerous sociopath, the already-imprisoned Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. Anyway, now it has songs! At least a couple of which, derived directly from lines in the movie, are blue enough to make The Book of Mormon look like, well, the Book of Mormon. It’s offensive to all, but with malice towards none. (Though Lambs’ possibly transgender serial killer Buffalo Bill—here played by Tom Story in a wig no worse than the one Ted Levine wore in the movie—would be subject to considerable scrutiny were the film released today.) There’s probably a hard limit on how much outrage a show can generate when it features a chorus line dressed in plush lambs’ ears and bedazzled lambs’-hoof mittens. Its sensibility is deeply Borscht Belt, right down to every physical description of a Buffalo Bill victim being wearily followed up with “How fat was she?” The hoariness of the jokes are the joke. Laura Jordan, stepping into Jodie Foster’s pantsuit (and her Wesht Virginia accent) as FBI ingénue Clarice Starling, is a game lead, threading the needle of committing fully to the part while also looking like she’s embarrassed to be a party to gags this dopey. That Tally Sessions (that name!) in no way resembles Anthony Hopkins somehow makes his vocal impression of Hopkins-as-Lecter funnier. (Both Foster and Hopkins won Oscars for the performances satirized here.) Shock musicals like this tend to mock the form of musical theater more than the individual text being skewered. The composers are brothers Jon and Al Kaplan, whose “legolambs” YouTube channel is the natural enemy of editors and bosses everywhere, featuring clever, sub-three-minute musical parodies of most of the Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography, plus other genre classics like RoboCop and The Thing. Silence! began as a YouTube short, too; one the Kaplans eventually fleshed out—er, expand-
Handout photos by Igor Dmitry
Silence! The Musical By Hunter Bell Music & Lyrics by Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan Directed by Alan Paul At Studio Theatre 2ndStage to Aug. 9
It puts the jokes in the musical numbers or it gets the hose. ed—into a show that played the New York International Fringe Festival a decade ago and enjoyed an off-Broadway run circa 2011–2013. Staged in the fourth-floor 2ndStage space that Studio Theatre converted into a bar for its hit production of Murder Ballad last spring, Silence! fits the room like a glove (a regular one made of animal flesh, or some synthetic material that harms only the environment). The bar has been redressed from Murder Ballad’s Black Cat Red Room-inspired look into something more like a high-end lounge, with framed stills from Demme’s Lambs on the walls. The novelty cocktails—the Hannibal Nectar, Lotion In The Basket, etc.—will run you a reasonable $8. A generation ago, the film’s characterization of its heroine was progressive, and the skepticism and hostility of her mostly male colleagues was just another obstacle for Starling to overcome. But Silence! lampoons the movie for being retrograde, with a whole riff about how it marginalizes Ardelia Mapp, Starling’s black friend at the FBI Academy. The woman who has that role in Silence!, Awa Sal Secka, is silenced no more, earning a bedazzled red dress and a show-stealing production number all her own. So there you are: Silence! dares to chide Hollywood for soft racism, while mocking lesbians and large women without mercy. It’s a big, queasy pile of contradictions, one you might not feel so great about enjoying so much. In that way especially, it’s faithful to its source. —Chris Klimek 1501 14th St. NW. $20–$40. (202) 332-3300. studiotheatre.org.
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GalleriesSketcheS Match the Surface “Resident A.D.” At Civilian Art Projects to August 8 Champneys Taylor’s latest paintings appear to fall into two camps: Pluto and Easter. On the one hand, the Easter paintings showcase the robin-egg-blue speckle familiar from the dapple of the holiday’s best candies. The Pluto paintings, on the other hand—well, the surfaces might be called lunar, marked as they are by what look like craters and moors, but the comparison to the former planet is irresistible after the recent New Horizons flyby. They’re two easy categories for a show that rewards—insists on, actually—the simple act of looking. It’s tempting to stop there with “Resident A.D.,” a selection of new work by the longtime D.C. painter at Civilian Art Projects. Taylor’s postmodern paintings don’t seek to draw the viewer in too deeply. It’s not that his paintings are superficial—they’re just so squarely focused on the surface. “Day for Night” and “Wink” are two of his Pluto paintings. They’re dominated by a desolate landscape that looks like it might have been painted after a high-definition photo taken by a deep-space probe passing some lost minor planet. Of course, these surfaces aren’t depictions of anything at all, per se; they’re idiosyncratic mark-making systems. Both paintings are framed with a contrasting segment of warm lavender: iterations, variations on a theme. The same goes for “Bufferin A.D. (Landbury)” and “Berm,” two Easter paintings that vary only a little in scale. Both draw on the same Ellsworth Kelly-style approach to composition: dominated by a tent-shaped polygon of pastel splash, framed by bold crayon chevrons of purple and yellow. Kelly looms large over Taylor’s compositions, but it’s not quite right to call them minimalist or even post-minimalist. Taylor is not focused on the process, but rather the outcome—again, it’s all about the surface. It’s easy to take Taylor’s abstractions for granted, given the way he parlays these tight, action-oriented sequences but makes them look decorative. His paintings read as flattened, though not hard-edged or dense. “Simultaneous Cut (flag 1)” depicts a series of horizontal planes arranged in a sort of banner; in that painting and in “G.D. Beach Break (flag 2)”—Taylor’s works seem to come in pairs—the eggshell-dapple banner is weighted the same as the planes of fixed color. Taylor’s Easter speckle is such a sincere and consistent imitation of a commercial pattern, it looks as though he’s applied it with a paint bucket tool in a digital application, not
“Bufferin A.D. (Landbury)” by Champneys Taylor (2015) manually. The same goes for the vast expanse in “Aphid Twin,” which could be mistaken for the golden craggy surface of a rock orbiting Jupiter. It could easily be NASA wallpaper, cut to fit the composition. That’s Taylor’s neat trick: Drawing from unlikely sources, he renders in almost photorealistic detail these panels, these surface elements, in such a way that the viewer forgets that’s what he’s doing. He’s simultaneously depicting these surfaces as he’s deploying them, bending these planes into loosely geometric arrangements—flattening them as he’s flaunting them. Taylor is a painter’s painter. He builds tension by pushing the action in bursts while pulling toward staid academe. He wears his affection for abstract expressionism on his sleeve. For viewers who don’t admire the project of painting as an end unto itself, his paintings might come off as conservative. The “A.D.” in the show’s title could mean after death or anno Domini (in the year of our Lord), a hint at where Taylor stands on the death of painting, and where painting belongs in the hierarchy of artistic pursuits. One painting in the show is too subtle: There’s not enough whomp to “Parenthetical,” a straightforward mid-century abstraction, to distinguish it from its forbears. Sometimes the little details in Taylor’s paintings—a dash of color on the border of a canvas, for example—the novel way he pairs painterly abstraction with commercial or borrowed abstraction. In paintings that depend so much on control, some of these marks look like strays. Still, Taylor’s work resists the easy tendencies of painters working at the forefront of abstraction painting today. Taylor makes it look easy, but these are practiced paintings. No one would tag his work with “zombie formalism,” a slug for reductivist-but-market-friendly painters who appear to move like a herd from one painterly strategy to another—even after —Kriston Capps the death of painting.
Is the Glass half full? Is the Glass half empty? how about half off! realdeal.washingtoncitypaper.com
STATE OF THE ARTS
City Paper ’s Annual Fall Arts and Entertainment Guide 2015 is coming September 17th! Get your tickets sold and seats filled for the whole season! Contact us today to advertise in this special issue: 202-650-6943
4718 14th St. NW. Free. civilianartprojects.com washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 33
FilmShort SubjectS Hide and Speak Do I Sound Gay? Directed by David Thorpe
ly on, he goes to a speech therapist to try to change his voice, only to have it slowly dawn on him that he is suffering from “internalized homophobia.” In fact, Thorpe’s self-hatred runs deeper than his vocal chords; he is stuck in a malaise after being left by his boyfriend (this happens before the movie takes place), and his concern over his voice is undergirded with insecurity. Why does every sentence Thorpe speaks sound like a question? He thinks it’s because he lacks confidence, and his conclusion (never quite stated but often hinted at in the film) is that this shortcoming has wrecked his relationship. “Who could fall in love with a braying ninny like me?” he asks in one heartbreaking moment. In this way, Do I Sound Gay? explores a subject that has relevance far beyond the queer community: the human voice as a conduit to our psyche. The film takes this simple, universal idea and spools out strands of cul-
tural, sociological, and physical inquiry, but its most resonant notes are personal. In other words, it’s the opposite of an issue movie. —Noah Gittell
Do I Sound Gay? opens July 24 at E Street Cinema. There was a time in Hollywood when it seemed like every film with an openly gay or transgender protagonist was an issue movie. Movies like Philadelphia, The Birdcage, and Boys Don’t Cry seemed devised to introduce gayness to mainstream America. They were valuable and entertaining, but their views A Hard Day of sexual identity were filtered through a Directed by Kim Seong-hun straight lens, and many grew tired of waitWithin the first three minutes of the ing for a richer array of stories by and for Korean film A Hard Day, the main character queer people. says to himself, “What a fucking day!” A couple of decades on, those old types of Uh oh. Are we about to cut to Sam Worstories are still being told (Milk, Dallas Buythington on a ledge? ers’ Club), but the movement to increase visiKim Seong-hun’s thriller isn’t quite that bad. bility of LGBTQ people in pop culture has resulted in new films that explore previously uncharted arenas of the gay experience. The smart and thoughtful Do I Sound Gay? falls squarely into that category. It starts with a narrow focus but ends up a textbook example of how a small story can have huge implications. Many people hate the sounds of their own voices, but for gay men, the issue is more complicated. Do I Sound Gay? goes far beyond the so-called lisp to examine the symptoms and causes of the stereotypical “gay voice,” using the voice of writer-director David Thorpe as a case study. He interviews a seemingly endless line of experts; there are speech coaches (including one who specializes in helping gay actors learn to talk “straight”), doctors, and notable gay public figures like David Sedaris and Dan Savage. The human voice is a window into the psyche—and not just for queer people. Piling smart, funny people onscreen is a recipe for a solOveracting and ludicrous idly entertaining film, but the subjects start violence make A Hard Day to run together due to a disappointing lack of hard to watch. diversity. It is clear that Thorpe pulled from his circle of friends and colleagues, which is largely limited to white guys in Brooklyn. Do I Sound Gay? claims to be a comprehensive look at the issue; if it were, it would have needed more range. The biological and psychological underpinnings of Thorpe’s voice make for good trivia, but the film works best when it focuses on the narrator himself. Do I Sound Gay? is less an intellectual inquiry into the gay voice than a personal one. Thorpe is a pleasant if not always riveting screen presence, but his most useful quality is his willingness to be wrong and look foolish. Ear34 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Written in tHe CarS
But by the time the credits roll, there’s enough fisticuffs, gun-scrambling, and resurrections to rival the schlockiest Hollywood film. The movie centers on a victim of Murphy’s Law, that lovely phenomenon that might cause you to wake up late, your flat-iron to short, your promotion to fall through, and your third eye to erupt in a rocket-red pimple just before a first date. Or maybe your department gets investigated for corruption on the night before your late mother’s interment, and when you’re driving to the funeral home to watch her be placed in a casket, you hit and kill a man, then throw his corpse in your trunk because you’re in a hurry. Gun-su (Lee Sun-kyun), a detective, is that unlikely hit-and-run perpetrator—and this is merely the film’s setup, not spoilers. He rigs things up so awfully (or laughably, depending on your mood) that he ends up stashing the body beside Mom’s and carrying on without arousing suspicion. But someone knows what he did last night. A Hard Day offers a decent, if a bit too neat, mystery once the inevitable threat comes acalling. (And for what feels like forever, calling is all he does. The movie might as well have been titled The Ominous Phones.) The accident takes place on a dark rural road with no one around. Gun-su manages to slide that man right into the casket, and even though the dead dude’s own phone rings a few times, it stops before any other family members or funeral directors return to the room. Once we identify the caller, a guy named Park (Jo Jin-woong), the film teases out why he’s after Gun-su. But when that’s cleared up, A Hard Day overstays its welcome, leaving viewers puzzling at the protagonist’s nonsensical logic. The violence is ludicrous, too: One character gains access to a forklift and a car-sized brick of concrete with alarming ease, and somehow predicts exactly where the driver of the doomed car will park. Lee’s overacting ratchets up with each new discovery until he’s practically “The Scream” personified. Gun-su and his nemesis are the only real characters here; his colleagues occasionally show up to give the jumpy detective guff, and he has a sister and daughter, but only when it’s convenient to the plot. The film’s dialogue is too ridiculous to stomach, especially when Park, trying to stall Gun-su, says the soup at a nearby diner is— well, we’ll never know, because Gun-su interrupts with a shrieking “I don’t want any!” And either the subtitling crew took the exchange rate very seriously or Gun-su has a thing for random numbers: “I bet $180 that you’ll at least get a life sentence!” Or perhaps that’s a joke from the translators to the distributor, wagering that A Hard Day’s opening box office take won’t even net —Tricia Olszewski two Benjamins. A Hard Day opens Friday at the Angelika Pop-Up.
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CITYLIST Music
Friday Rock
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Cowboy Mouth. 8 p.m. $25. 930.com. Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Screeching Weasel, the Queers, Mr. T Experience. 7:30 p.m. $24.99–$35. thehowardtheatre.com. Jiffy lube live 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow. (703) 754-6400. Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. 1 p.m. $30–$66.66. livenation.com. roCk & roll HoTel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. These Quiet Colors, A MARC Train Home, Uptown Boys Choir, Technicians. 9 p.m. $12. rockandrollhoteldc.com. u STreeT MuSiC Hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Ryn Weaver. 7 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.
Funk & R&B THe HaMilTon 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Brass-A-Holics. 8:30 p.m. $20–$30. thehamiltondc.com. kennedy CenTer MillenniuM STage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Blessing Offor. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org. logan fringe arTS SpaCe 1358 Florida Ave. NE. (202) 737-7230. The Silent Note, Dan Joseph, Joe Keyes and the Late Bloomer Band. 9:30 p.m. Free. capitalfringe.org. MerriweaTHer poST pavilion 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. (410) 715-5550. Sam Smith. 8 p.m. $45–$97.50. merriweathermusic.com.
Jazz blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Larry Coryell, Strings Attached. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $25. bluesalley.com. Mr. Henry’S 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. (202) 5468412. Aaron L. Myers II. 8 p.m. Free. mrhenrysdc.com.
Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 Galleries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
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CITY LIGHTS: FRIDAY
MICHAEL IAN BLACK Michael Ian Black may be one of the most prolific comedians working today. It’s been two decades since he appeared as a regular on MTV’s sketch show The State; since then, he’s tried his hand at screenwriting (2007’s Run, Fat Boy, Run), pop culture commentary (VH1’s I Love The… series), podcasts, and books (including America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom, which he co-wrote with Meghan McCain). Black’s also known for his collaborations with The State cast members David Wain and Michael Showalter, most notably in the cult classic Wet Hot American Summer. Recently, Black has busied himself with roles in Comedy Central’s Another Period, the Jim Gaffigan Show, and the highly anticipated Netflix series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Black’s standup act, meanwhile, is a showcase for his more absurd musings and solo theatrics; in his 2011 special Very Famous, he transformed a standard riff on air travel into a bit full of accents, physicality, and uncomfortable silences. Black remains a regular presence in both mainstream and alternative comedy scenes, and it’s a good omen for both that he shows no signs of slowing down. Michael Ian Black performs at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington. $25. (703) —Dan Singer 486-2345. arlingtondrafthouse.com.
dJ nights blaCk CaT baCkSTage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Heavy Rotation with DJ Provoke, Martin Miguel, John Jazz, and Ozker. 10 p.m. $5. blackcatdc.com.
u STreeT MuSiC Hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Little Boots, Prinze George. 7 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.
Funk & R&B
saturday
verizon CenTer 601 F St. NW. (202) 628-3200. Ariana Grande, Prince Royce. 7:30 p.m. $34.50–$89.50. verizoncenter.com.
gypSy Sally’S 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. Nick Andrew Staver. 7:30 p.m. Free. gypsysallys.com.
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. The Dead Milkmen, Ego Likeness, Bastards of Fate. 8 p.m. $25. 930.com.
WoRld
blaCk CaT 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Run for Cover 2015. 8 p.m. $12. blackcatdc.com.
blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Larry Coryell, Strings Attached. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $25. bluesalley.com.
TropiCalia 2001 14th St. NW. (202) 629-4535. Alika and Nueva Alianza, Leon City Sound Selectors. 9 p.m. $12. tropicaliadc.com.
dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Dave Hause, Rocky Votolato, Chris Farren. 8 p.m. $14. dcnine.com.
SoTTo 1610 14th St. NW. (202) 545-3459. Matt Ingeneri and Mark Saltman Duo. 6:30 p.m. Free. sottodc.com.
Blues
opeRa wolf Trap filene CenTer 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. National Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Opera: Verdi’s Aida in Concert. 8:15 p.m. $22–$100. wolftrap.org.
Rock
Jazz CaSTleTon farMS 663 Castleton View Rd., Castleton. (866) 974-0767. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. 7 p.m. $35–$200. castletonfestival.org.
logan fringe arTS SpaCe 1358 Florida Ave. NE. (202) 737-7230. Marilyn Carino, Anthony Pirog Trio, Mellow Diamond, Janel and Anthony. 9:30 p.m. Free. capitalfringe.org.
Mr. Henry’S 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. (202) 546-8412. “Dial 251” with Lady Guest. 8 p.m. Free. mrhenrysdc.com.
roCk & roll HoTel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. Color Palette, Drop Electric, Honest Halloway, Boom. 7:30 p.m. $12. rockandrollhoteldc.com.
wolf Trap filene CenTer 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Diana Krall. 8 p.m. $40–$60. wolftrap.org.
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countRy birCHMere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. (703) 549-7500. The Bumper Jacksons, the Junior League Band. 7:30 p.m. $20. birchmere.com.
WoRld Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Bomba Estereo, Mitu. 7:30 p.m. $20–$45. thehowardtheatre.com.
go-go
MerriweaTHer poST pavilion 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. (410) 715-5550. My Morning Jacket, Jason Isbell. 7 p.m. $40–$55. merriweathermusic.com.
Funk & R&B boSSa biSTro 2463 18th St NW. 202-667-0088. The Scotch Bonnets. 8 p.m. $5. bossproject.com. Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Bun B, DJ Remii. 10:30 p.m. $35–$80. thehowardtheatre.com.
Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Sugar Bear and EU, Rare Essence, Suttle Thoughts. 11 p.m. $30–$40. thehowardtheatre.com.
logan fringe arTS SpaCe 1358 Florida Ave. NE. (202) 737-7230. Bitter Dose Combo, The Plank Stompers, The Afrolachian Connection featuring Cheick Hamala Diabate. 8:30 p.m. Free. capitalfringe.org.
dJ nights
Jazz
blaCk CaT baCkSTage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Gay/Bash with DJs Natty Boom and Donna Slash. 10 p.m. $7. blackcatdc.com.
CaSTleTon farMS 663 Castleton View Rd., Castleton. (866) 974-0767. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. 3 p.m. $35–$200. castletonfestival.org.
roCk & roll HoTel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. Crunt. 11 p.m. Free. rockandrollhoteldc.com.
sunday Rock
birCHMere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. (703) 549-7500. Big bad Voodoo Daddy. 7:30 p.m. $39.50. birchmere.com.
hip-hop u STreeT MuSiC Hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Skepta. 7 p.m. $15. ustreetmusichall.com.
Monday Rock
dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Memory Tapes. 9 p.m. $10–$12. dcnine.com.
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. George Ezra. 7 p.m. (Sold out). 930.com.
Jiffy lube live 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow. (703) 754-6400. Hillsong United. 7 p.m. $27–$49.50. livenation.com.
dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Marriages, Creepoid, Atlas At Last. 8:30 p.m. $12–$14. dcnine.com.
CITY LIGHTS: SATURDAY
THE BUMPER JACKSONS Any band that uses pedal steel, banjo, and extended instrumental interludes can label its music as “roots,” but few truly recall the early American music from which roots music derives. (I’m looking at you, Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers.) Local country swing act the Bumper Jacksons fully commits to the old-timey vibe during its live shows, beating on boxes and blowing on clarinets and trombone kazoos to create the ambiance of a lively New Orleans music hall. On their latest album, Too Big World, the members double down on country references, calling out references to Johnny cakes, venison, and sassafras tea like a waitress at a Deep South diner. Powered by the lungs of vocalists Jess Eliot Myhre and Chris Ousley, the band’s luscious compositions have the power to transport audiences to the Gulf of Mexico, even when they’re in a club on the shores of the Potomac. The Bumper Jacksons perform with Junior League Band at 7:30 p.m. at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. —Caroline Jones $20. (703) 549-7500. birchmere.com.
38 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 39
Luenell is HOODLARIOUS!
charles-Steck Photography
Comedy Series kicks off
eCHoSTage 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. (202) 503-2330. Milky Chance. 7 p.m. $43.45. echostage.com. forT reno 3800 Donaldson Place NW. (202) 3556356. Jack on Fire, Polyon. 7 p.m. Free. fortreno.com.
AUGUst 2nd
u STreeT MuSiC Hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Sheppard, Lawson. 7 p.m. $18.
with
ustreetmusichall.com.
Sampson McCormick
Funk & R&B Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. PJ Morton, Dee-1. 8 p.m. $20–$45. thehowardtheatre.com.
www.thehowardtheatre.com (202)709)7503
3 0 1 - 6 3 3 - 5 6 0 1 charles@steckphotography.com w w w. s t e c k p h o t o g r a p h y. c o m
LIVE
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
WILL
HOGE W/ SCOTT KURT
THURSDAY JULY
23
BRASS-
A-HOLICS FRIDAY JULY
24
SUN, JULY 26
THE PAUL REED SMITH BAND W/ SPECIAL GUESTS DENNIS CHAMBERS & JUNIOR MARVIN (OF THE WAILERS) MON, JULY 27
TRAVELLER
(JONNY FRITZ, ROBERT ELLIS & CORY CHISEL) THURS, JULY 30
RAYLAND BAXTER WITH DEAD PROFESSIONAL THURS, SEPT 24 *JUST ANNOUNCED*
ALL GOOD PRESENTS:
moe.
THEHAMILTONDC.COM 40 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
CITY LIGHTS: SUNDAY
JASON ISBELL
You can call it Americana if you want, but the work of Jason Isbell is the music that modern country radio abandoned in favor of bro culture, chicks in short shorts, and drinking some of that “good stuff.” Long past his Drive-By Truckers days, Isbell channels strong feelings about life and love through vivid characters. Who else among his country contemporaries is writing songs about living double lives or wrestling with sobriety? While country superstar Luke Bryan’s latest offering obsesses over spring break, the first single from Isbell’s new album of the same name, “Something More Than Free,” celebrates working-class people just trying to get by: “And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts/I’m just lucky to have the work/Sunday morning I’m too tired to go to church/But I thank God for the work.” Though he’s the opening act at Merriweather, Isbell is a marquee talent. Jason Isbell performs with My Morning Jacket at 7 p.m. at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. $40–$55. (410) 715-5550. merriweathermusic.com. —Steve Cavendish
Folk kennedy CenTer MillenniuM STage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Ukuleles for Peace. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.
tuesday Rock
blaCk CaT baCkSTage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Elena and Los Fulanos, Letitia Van Sant, Andrea Pais. 7:30 p.m. $10–$12. blackcatdc.com. dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Sand, Next Step Up, Supreme Commander, Oldham Boys. 8 p.m. $8. dcnine.com. eCHoSTage 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. (202) 503-2330. Interpol. 7 p.m. $48.60. echostage.com.
Funk & R&B Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Beres Hammond. 8 p.m. $39.50–$75. thehowardtheatre.com.
Folk wolf Trap filene CenTer 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Indigo Girls. 8 p.m. $32–$49. wolftrap.org.
Vocal
Wednesday Rock
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Django Django, Beat Connection. 7 p.m. $25. 930.com. blaCk CaT 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Moullinex, Ben Browning. 7:30 p.m. $15. blackcatdc.com. boSSa biSTro 2463 18th St NW. 202-667-0088. The Last Rewind. 9 p.m. $5. bossproject.com. eCHoSTage 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. (202) 503-2330. Brandon Flowers. 7 p.m. $43.45. echostage.com. fillMore Silver Spring 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. (301) 960-9999. Rise Against, Killswitch Engage, letlive. 8 p.m. $38. fillmoresilverspring.com. roCk & roll HoTel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. Power Trip, Forseen, Red Death, Protestor. 7:30 p.m. $12. rockandrollhoteldc.com.
Funk & R&B Howard THeaTre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Beres Hammond. 8 p.m. $39.50–$75. thehowardtheatre.com. kennedy CenTer MillenniuM STage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Creole United. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org. wolf Trap filene CenTer 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Jill Scott. 8 p.m. $45–$250. wolftrap.org.
kennedy CenTer MillenniuM STage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. All-American Boys Choir. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.
thursday
u.S. CapiTol weST lawn East Capitol and First streets NW. Singing Sergeants—Celtic Aire. 8 p.m. Free. visitthecapitol.gov.
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Los Amigos Invisibles. 7 p.m. $25. 930.com.
Rock
CITY LIGHTS: MONDAY
JACK ON FIRE Polyon describes itself as “fuzz rock” influenced by “toxic space debris”—which, according to my subgenre-to-English decoder, means a lot of early-aughts gloom rock. So far, so Fort Reno. You’re braving mosquitoes and wet blankets here for Jack on Fire, a band-cum-prankster collective that sounds like Le Tigre in the last days of the Weimar Republic. Jack on Fire hit the big time last year with a song urging listeners to burn down the Brixton, the most prominent house on U Street’s Greek Row. Since then, the group has made posters accusing Mayor Muriel Bowser of being a sleeper agent for the condo agenda and cultivated feuds with members of Congress. In Jack on Fire’s telling, pot-hating Rep. Andy Harris just needs to smoke up, and pro-life Rep. Trent Franks should’ve been aborted. I suspect Jack on Fire is more at home in the new D.C. than its members realize, though—“Slam Piece,” their plaintive song about the kind of friends-with-benefits pitch that might go down over IPAs at the Brixton, is downright romantic. Jack on Fire performs with Polyon at 7 p.m. at Fort Reno, Nebraska Avenue and Ches—Will Sommer apeake Street NW. Free. fortreno.com.
washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 41
CITY LIGHTS: TUESDAY
BERES HAMMOND J U L Y TH 23 FREE SHOW D-ERANIA & FRIENDS
FRIDAY JULY 24
GERARDO CONTINO Y LOS HABANEROS
For the better part of five decades, Jamaica’s Beres Hammond has captivated reggae fans with his pleading, syllable-stretching R&B delivery. The veteran crooner usually lends his soulful style to romantic tunes known in Jamaica as lovers rock, but he’s also testified about social justice on smooth tunes like “Truth Will Live On” and “Putting Up Resistance.” On his last release, the 2012 double album One Love, One Life, he devoted one disc to love songs and one to tales of struggle. Using a calm, measured tone on the flattery-filled verses of “In My Arms,” Hammond duets with a female singer, pouring on the passionate melisma during the chorus and asking her to put her head on his shoulder. The phrasing might sound old-fashioned, but Hammond’s gift for catchy melodies and his band’s measured accompaniment keep his music from feeling retro. In a Jamaican music world filled with flashy, motor-mouthed dancehall rappers and purist Rastafarians, Hammond presents a sleek alternative. Beres Hammond performs at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Howard Theatre, —Steve Kiviat 620 T St. NW. $39.50–$75. (202) 803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com.
CUBAN / DANCE NIGHT SA 25 THE NIGHTHAWKS SU 26 MELI’SA MORGAN FEATURING PHAZE II TU 28 THE PURPLE XPERIENCE: PRINCE TRIBUTE W/ DOCTOR FINK W 29 VMA’S FACULTY/ALUMNI W/ DOC DIKEMAN BIG BAND TH 30 WHUR NEIGHBORHOOD AWARDS PARTY
A U G U S T
blaCk CaT baCkSTage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. BRNDA, Wild Honey, Den-Mate. 7:30 p.m. $10. blackcatdc.com.
**JUST ANNOUNCED** FRI AUGUST 14
kennedy CenTer MillenniuM STage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. The El Mansouris. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.
LEE GREENWOOD
roCk & roll HoTel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. The Appleseed Cast, Dads, Annabelle. 8 p.m. $15. rockandrollhoteldc.com. wolf Trap filene CenTer 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals. 7:30 p.m. $35–$55. wolftrap.org.
THURS & FRI AUGUST 20 & 21
STEVE TYRELL
SAT & SUN AUGUST 22 & 23
JO DEE MESSINA
7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD (240) 330-4500
electRonic u STreeT MuSiC Hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Erol Alkan. 10 p.m. $12. ustreetmusichall.com.
Jazz blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Nicole Henry. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $25. bluesalley.com. dukeM bar and reSTauranT 1114 U St. NW. (202) 667-8735. Lyle Link. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Free. dukemrestaurant.com.
countRy Mr. Henry’S 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. (202) 5468412. Hollertown. 8 p.m. Free. mrhenrysdc.com.
WoRld Two Blocks from Bethesda Metro/Red Line Free Parking on Weekends 42 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
boSSa biSTro 2463 18th St NW. 202-667-0088. Cissa Paz and Friends. 10 p.m. $5. bossproject.com.
Books williaM finnegan A longtime New Yorker staff writer, Finnegan considers his passion for surfing in his new memoir, Barbarian Days. Politics & Prose. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. July 27, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. david Madlund Learn why trickle-down economics is a myth and how middle-class prosperity benefits the nation as a whole in Madlund’s latest volume, Hollowed Out: Why the Economy Doesn’t Work Without a Strong Middle Class. Politics & Prose. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. July 24, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. Maggie MeSSiTT In The Rainy Season, Messitt chronicles the lives of three different individuals living in South Africa as the country becomes further westernized. Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe. 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. July 29, 6:30 p.m. Free. (202) 387-1400. paula MClain McLain reimagines the personal life of Beryl Markham, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west, in her latest novel, Circling the Sun. Politics & Prose. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. July 29, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. layne MoSler Mosler, the author of the popular “Taxi Gourmet” blog, chronicles her adventures in eating in her new book, Driving Hungry. Politics & Prose. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. July 28, 7 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919. barry Svrluga The author, a regular baseball writer for the Washington Post, examine’s the sport’s exhausting seasons in The Grind: Inside Baseball’s Endless Season. Politics & Prose. 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. July 25, 6 p.m. Free. (202) 364-1919.
Galleries
addiSon/ripley fine arT 1670 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 338-5180. addisonripleyfineart.com. OngOing: “dihiscent: out of the closet & off the walls.” The gallery pulls some beloved and well-known works out of storage and showcases them on the walls for this new group exhibition. July 15–Aug. 21. arlingTon arTS CenTer 3550 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 248-6800. arlingtonartscenter.org. OngOing: “Play.” Games and toys are examined through the lens of contemporary art in this group show that aims to engage viewers of all ages. July 11–Oct. 10. arTiSpHere 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 875-1100. artisphere.com. OngOing: “Bruised.” Local animator Safwat Saleem and WAMU’s Rebecca Sheir curate this new participatory art project that invites visitors to share their stories of defeat. Saleem will then animate the stories and display them on screens throughout the building. April 15–July 31. aTHenaeuM 201 Prince St., Alexandria. (703) 5480035. nvfaa.org. Opening: “Fields of Energy.” Abstract works by David Carlson and Pat Goslee, painters who are very concerned with spiritual exploration. July 23–Sept. 6. dC arTS CenTer 2438 18th St. NW. (202) 462-7833. dcartscenter.org. OngOing: DCAC members and amateur artists display their own work at this annual celebration of experimental and inventive art. July 10–Aug. 30. HeMpHill fine arTS 1515 14th St. NW. (202) 2345601. hemphillfinearts.com. OngOing: “William Christenberry.” Images of rural Alabama by the American photographer. June 10–Aug. 1. Honfleur gallery 1241 Good Hope Road SE. (202) 365-8392. honfleurgallery.com. OngOing: “8th Annual East of the River Exhibition.” Works by artists living and working in Wards 7 and 8 are selected by a panel of jurors and displayed at this annual exhibition. July 10–Aug. 28.
TOP PRICES PAID
for your Records (33S or 45S) CD’s or DVD’s
Cirque du Soleil: varekai The movement-based company brings its latest performance, about the creatures who inhabit an enchanted forest, to Fairfax. Patriot Center. 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax. July 24, 4 p.m.; July 24, 7:30 p.m.; July 25, 4 p.m.; July 25, 7:30 p.m.; July 26, 1:30 p.m.; July 26, 5 p.m. $40-$160. (703) 993-3000. patriotcenter.com. danCe for everybody In honor of National Dance Day, the Kennedy Center presents free performances by AXIS Dance Company and local tap dancer Baakari Wilder. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. 2700 F St. NW. July 25, 4 p.m. Free. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org. Maryland youTH balleT The local company presents “The Elves and the Shoemaker’s Daughter,” an updated take on the classic fairy tale about the need for new kicks. Wolf Trap Theatre-in-the-Woods. 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. July 24, 10:30 a.m.; July 25, 10:30 a.m. $10. (703) 255-1900. wolftrap.org. niCHe Company members from Jane Franklin Dance present this piece about a couple searching for a suitable home while they navigate new careers and eccentric neighbors that incorporates recycled materials and overhead projections. Presented as part of the Capital Fringe Festival. Dance Place. 3225 8th St. NE. July 25, 6:50 p.m.; July 26, 3:15 p.m. $12-$17. (202) 269-1600. danceplace.org.
theater
aMeriCan Moor In this one-man show, acclaimed actor Keith Hamilton Cobb explores race in America by using Shakespeare’s famous moor, Othello, as a metaphor. Cobb’s play also examines diversity, the state of American theater, and unadulterated love. Anacostia
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vivid SoluTionS gallery 1231 Good Hope Road SE. (202) 365-8392. vividsolutionsdc.com. OngOing: “Innocent Eyes of Tierra Bomba.” Photographs of the remote Colombian island by Jonathan French, winner of the 2014 East of the River Distinguished Artist Award. July 10–Aug. 28.
dance
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WELCOME INTERNS SPECIAL Mondays - Burger + Beer $10
Fri. July 24 Swamp KeeperS Band red Sat. July 25 Bruce ewan thhearmonica KinG
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cherry GaSoline Sat. Aug. 1 BiG Boy little Band Fri. Aug. 7 Still StandinG Sat. Aug. 8 SmoKin’ polecatS Fri. Aug. 14 SooKey Jump BlueS Band Sat. Aug. 15 Stacy BrooKS BlueS Band
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washingtoncitypaper.com july 24, 2015 43
Playhouse. 2020 Shannon Place SE. To August 16. $15-$25. (202) 544-0703. anacostiaplayhouse.com.
Theatre. 9431 Silver King Court, Fairfax. To August 2. $20-$30. (703) 674-3177. thehubtheatre.org.
THe book of MorMon The Broadway musical about two missionaries and their misadventures in Africa arrives at the Kennedy Center for an extended summer stay. Kennedy Center Opera House. 2700 F St. NW. To August 16. $43-$250. 202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.
a MidSuMMer nigHT’S dreaM The National Players begin their summer season at Olney Theatre Center with an outdoor production of Shakespeare’s comedy about amateur actors, confused lovers, and disgruntled fairies. Olney Theatre Center. 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney. To July 26. Free. (301) 924-3400. olneytheatre.org.
CapiTal fringe feSTival This festival that brings together performers of all stripes from around the world returns for its 10th anniversary with 129 different groups setting up camp at a new, permanent location in Trinidad. Logan Fringe Arts Space. 1358 Florida Ave. NE. To July 26. (202) 737-7230. capitalfringe.org. CaT on a HoT Tin roof The company celebrates its return to the renovated Church Street Theatre with a new production of the Tennessee Williams classic about the family living on the Mississippi Delta plantation of cotton tycoon Big Daddy Pollitt. Keegan Theatre at Church Street Theater. 1742 Church St. NW. To July 25. $25-$36. (703) 892-0202. keegantheatre.com. dear evan HanSen In this moving musical, Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect) stars as a man who appears to have a perfect life—a beautiful girlfriend, a happy family, and a chance to finally fit in—but his secrets threaten the life he’s built. Tony Award nominee Michael Greif directs this new piece about how we survive in a modern world. Arena Stage. 1101 6th St. SW. To August 23. $40-$100. (202) 488-3300. arenastage.org. THe iSland This South African play, devised by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, explores the physical and psychological torture suffered by black political prisoners during Apartheid through the guide of a performance of Antigone. MetroStage honors the play’s 30th anniversary with this production directed by Thomas W. Jones II. MetroStage. 1201 N. Royal St., Alexandria. To August 2. $50-$55. (703) 548-9044. metrostage.org. leT THeM eaT CHaoS Chicago’s legendary Second City comedy company presents another lively satire of American culture and politics in a subversive manner. Woolly Mammoth Theatre. 641 D St. NW. To August 2. $35-$68. (202) 393-3939. woollymammoth.net. leTo legend Charlie works as a writer and a mother, while managing some work as a superhero on the side. Find out how she manages to do it all and whether she’ll find a way to control her work in this comedy by Kristen LePine. The Hub Theatre at John Swayze
a MidSuMMer nigHT’S dreaM Synetic revives its acclaimed, acrobatic adaptation of the Shakespearean comedy featuring a stubborn donkey, confused lovers, and a tyrannical fairy. Synetic Theater at Crystal City. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. To August 9. $10-$50. (800) 494-8497. synetictheater.org. onCe An Irish musician meets a young piano player in this romantic, Tony Award-winning musical based on the film by John Carney. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. 2700 F St. NW. To August 16. $65-$135. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org. THe produCerS Two producers, one a striver and one a schemer, attempt to force a terrible musical onto a Broadway stage in this award-winning musical based on the film by Mel Brooks. Olney Theatre Center. 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney. To July 26. $30-$75. (301) 924-3400. olneytheatre.org. SilenCe! THe MuSiCal The cannibalistic Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Clarice Starling, and Buffalo Bill sing and dance in this musical adaptation of the Academy Award-winning film. Studio Theatre. 1501 14th St. NW. To August 9. $20-$40. (202) 332-3300. studiotheatre.org. Sweeney Todd: THe deMon barber of fleeT STreeT prog MeTal verSion The rock-infused musical theater company revives its adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical about a murderous barber who turns his customers into meat pies. Atlas Performing Arts Center. 1333 H St. NE. To August 2. $29. (202) 399-7993. atlasarts.org. THiS liMe Tree bower In Conor McPherson’s play, three young men meet on the coast of Ireland to recall events that changed their lives forever. Jack Sparbori directs this dark comedy about the human condition. Quotidian Theatre Company at The Writer’s Center. 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda. To August 9. $15-$30. (301) 816-1023. quotidiantheatre.org. Twelve angry Men For its last production, American Century Theater revives the first play it ever
CITY LIGHTS: WEDNESDAY
CODE NAME: CYNTHIA Paris in the 1940s: The Nazis have rolled in and there’s mystery in the air. What will become of Europe’s cultural capital if dictatorship takes hold? In Karen and Steve Multer’s new musical, code name: CYNTHIA, it’s up to one intrepid spy to keep world order in check. After Betty Thorpe narrowly escapes France, she returns to Washington full of secrets and sleeps with several influential diplomats to obtain even more information. One particularly loose-lipped source eventually gives Thorpe the information she needs to stop the spread of fascism and save her own life in the process, turning her into the U.S. government’s closest equivalent to a superhero. The production, inspired by true events, is lousy with romantic trysts, making it the ideal way to pass time until The Americans, our nation’s greatest spy drama, returns from hiatus. The only thing left to consider: Whatever will the spies sing about? The play runs July 29 to Aug. 16 at the Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope —Caroline Jones Road SE. $25. (202) 631-6291. anacostiaartscenter.org.
44 july 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
CITY LIGHTS: THURSDAY
VOCAL COLORS Describing a painting in words is relatively simple: You can comment on the contrast between light and dark colors, the way the paint is applied to the canvas, and, with a bit of research, the subject matter. Art historians and critics have waxed poetic in this manner for centuries. But how do you describe a work of visual art through song? This is the challenge facing two members of the Wolf Trap Opera Company, soprano Amy Owens (pictured) and baritone Morgan Pearse, when they perform at the Phillips Collection. After considering several pieces from the museum’s permanent collection and the music in their own repertoires, the musicians will pair art and song, reflecting on the relationship between the two. You could hear showtunes, classical arias, or pop standards presented in conjunction with works by European Impressionists or American folk artists. Whatever the pairing, expect this interdisciplinary rendezvous of art to get your own creative thoughts flowing. The performance begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Phillips Collection, 1600 20th —Caroline Jones St. NW. $8–$20. (202) 387-2151. phillipscollection.org. produced. The cast includes members of the 1995 production as well as performers from other American Century plays over the years. Jack Marshall returns to direct. American Century Theater at Gunston Theatre Two. 2700 S. Lang St., Arlington. To August 8. $32-$40. (703) 998-4555. americancentury.org. TxT Brian Feldman presents this interactive show in which he reads anonymous online messages sent from audience members every Sunday in 2015. Anything goes in terms of subject matter and profanity, so arrive with no expectations. American Poetry Museum. 716 Monroe St. #25. To December 27. $15-$20. (800) 8383006. txtshow.brownpapertickets.com.
FilM
anT-Man A con man in possession of a suit that allows him to shrink to the size of an ant must decide to use his power for good in order to help his mentor in this action flick based on the Marvel comic book. Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Douglas. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) do i Sound gay? In this lively documentary, njournalist David Thorpe investigates the origins of so-called “gay voice” by talking to celebrated gay icons including Dan Savage, George Takei, and Tim Gunn. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) irraTional Man In Woody Allen’s latest film, a ndepressed college professor seeks meaning in his life. He considers killing a corrupt judge to find some peace but instead builds a relationship with a much younger student. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) Me and earl and THe dying girl This dark comedy that won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival follows a young man whose life changes dramatically when he befriends a classmate with cancer and decides to make a film for her. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) Mr. HolMeS Ian McKellan puts yet another spin on the Sherlock Holmes series in this crime drama, which finds the aged detective struggling to put together the clues of his last case. Co-starring Laura Linney and Milo Parker. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)
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paper TownS A young man reconnects with his nmysterious next door neighbor on a high-spirited late night road trip. When she disappears immediately after, it’s up to him to figure out where she went and figure out how to solve the problems he encounters. Starring Cara Delavingne and Nat Wolff. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) Aliens assume the form of classic video npixelS game characters and attack unsuspecting citizens in this comedic caper starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and Peter Dinklage. (See washingtoncitypaper. com for venue information) After experiencing great personal nSouTHpaw tragedy, a down on his luck boxer, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, turns to a tough coach, played by Forest Whitaker, to help turn his life around. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) Tangerine A transgender prostitute and her best friend set out to take on the pimp who cheated on them in this upbeat dramedy from director Sean S. Baker. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) THe THird Man A popular novelist returns to postWorld War II Vienna and attempts to investigate the death of his lost friend in this thriller written by the novelist Graham Greene. Originally released in 1949, it is presented now in a newly restored print. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) TrainwreCk A career-driven writer, played by Amy Schumer, swears off commitment until interviewing the one person who might make her change her mind. Judd Apatow directs this comedy that also features Bill Hader and LeBron James. (See washingtoncitypaper. com for venue information) In this reboot of the classic Chevy nvaCaTion Chase film, a family’s vacation to the Wally World theme park hits some snags along the way. Ed Helms and Christina Applegate star as the exhausted parents leading the road trip. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)
Film clips are written by Caroline Jones.
COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS IN ASSOCIATIONWITH LSTARCAPITAL AND CHINAFILM CO., LTD. A HAPPYMADISON/1492PICTURES PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATIONWITMUSIH FICLM CROPPERSENTERTAINMENT A CHRIS COLUMBUS FILM ADAMSANDLER “PIXELS” KEVIN JAMES MICHEL E MONAGHAN PETER DINKLAGE JOSHGAD AND BRIANCOX BY HENRYJACKMAN EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS BARRYBERNARDI MICHAEL BARNATHAN JACKGIARRAPUTO STEVEKOREN HEATHER PARRY PATRICKJEAN BENJAMIN DARRAS JOHNNYALVES MATIASBOUCARD SETH GORDON BEN WAISBREN SCREEN PRODUCED BASED ON THE SCREENPLAY DIRECTED SHORT FILM BY PATRICKJEAN STORY BY TIM HERLIHY BY TIM HERLIHY AND TIMOTHYDOWLING BY ADAMSANDLER CHRIS COLUMBUS MARKRADCLIF E ALLEN COVERT BY CHRIS COLUMBUS INCLUDES “GAMEON” PERFORMED BY WAKAFLOCKAFLAME FEATURING GOODCHARLOT E
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NOTICE! to all Municipalities. Local and National Governments. STATES. U.S. Agents. Attorney’s. Corporations. Persons. Vessels. Counties. Militaries. Courts. United States of America. UNITED STATES. UNITED NATIONS. and to Territories in Possession of UNITED STATES. United States d/b/a Department of Home Land Security. United States Treasury Department. United Nations and United Nations Security Council. Vatican. Indian tribes, Associated Bands and Clans. The following election to Occupy the Offi ce of Executor for CHARLES H YIM Estate was held in the City of Takoma Park, County Montgomery, State of Maryland on January 16 1975. For which “I” Charles H tribe Yim, a Native American , A man standing on the FINDAmexem/North YOUR OUTLET. land America. I have now accepted theREPEAT position of RELAX, UNWIND, Institutional Executor, and GenerHEALTH/ alCLASSIFIEDS Protectorate of the divine Estate gifted andBODY granted me by the DiMIND, & SPIRIT vine Creator. Therefore, I affirm http://www.washingtonand declare that upon occupying citypaper.com/ this offi ce, I will not be responsible for the payments of any debts or obligations of the United States of America and neither for any payments or Obligations of any debts for any United States Person/citizen. by, Charles H tribe Yim EX in fo.Ch a rle shY im e s t a t e @ un seen.is
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Legals WHEREABOUTS NOTICE
IN THE ESTATE of CLIFFORD GOODWIN also known as CLIFFORD AUGUSTUS GOODWIN, late 640 Kelmore Way, Waterford in the parish of Saint Catherine, Shipping Pmi Worker, deceased, intestate. TAKE NOTICE that an application for Grant of Letters of Administration of all real and personal estate of CLIFFORD GOODWIN, late of 640 Kelmore Way, Waterford, Saint Catherine, Shipping Port Worker, deceased intestate has been filed in the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica by EDNA MIRIAM GOODWIN-BAILEY, Production Assistant of 68 Longfellow Road, Worchester Massachusetts, MA 01602 in the United States of America.
Legals Monument Academy is advertising the opportunity to bid on the delivery of breakfast, lunch, snack and/ or CACFP supper meals to children enrolled at the school for the 2014-2015 school year with a possible extension of (4) one year renewals. All meals must meet at a minimum, but are not restricted to, the USDA National School Breakfast, Lunch, Afterschool Snack and At Risk Supper meal pattern requirements. Additional specifi cations outlined in the Request for Proposals (RFP) such as; student data, days of service, meal quality, etc. may be obtained beginning on July 17, 2015 from Kenneth Walker at (804) 9437869 or kenneth.walker@ monumentacademydc.org Proposals will be accepted at 500 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20002 on August 10, 2015, not later than noon.
This notice is intended for Norma McLeod whose last known address was 727 Kenyon Street, Washington DC, NW 20012 United States of America or anyone knowing her whereabouts or her benefi ciaries or any other person having claims against the estate of the above-named deceased are required to send particulars of their claims, duly authenticated to the Probate and Administration Registry of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica situate at King Street, Kingston, telephone numbers (876) 9228300-9, fax (876) 967-0669 [Attention: D. Dixon- Deputy Registrar (ag)] or Tenneshia T. Watkins, Attorney-at-Law of 4 Lismore Avenue, First Floor, Suite 15, Kingston 5 in the parish of SairttAndrew, telephone number (876) 968- 8232, fax number (876) 908-3653, Attorney-at-Law for the intended Administratrix herein on or before the expiration of two calendar months from the date of publication hereof, after which date, the assets of the estate will be distributed and the intended Administratrix will not be liable to any person or persons of whose claim they shall not then have had notice.
46 July 24, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
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PREPARED BY TENNESHIA T. WATKINS of 4 Lismore Avenue, First Floor, Suite 15, Kingston 5 in the parish of Saint Andrew, telephone number (876) 968-8232, fax number (876) 908-3653, Attorney-at-Law for the intended Administratrix herein.
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Rooms for Rent Large sunny Victorian in garden near Takoma Metro station has an unfurnished room for a male professional/grad student. $700 includes utilities, shared kitchen & bath, off street parking, wifi. Betsy 202/549-6600.
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Out with the old, In with
“NEW MA” Stage Play. Written by D.Dee Hunter Summer break is just 48 hours away and siblings; Trina is excited about attending her best friend’s end of the school year party. Marcus can’t wait to attend Basketball Camp, and Muffin doesn’t care about summer break, she only wants a puppy. However, when Mom can no longer tolerate the children avoiding their chores, ignoring her instructions and bickering, she takes away the kids privileges. Angered that Mom has put a halt on their summer plans, the kids agree that if they could trade in their mom for a New Ma, they would be much happier! (Staring: Jasmine Franklin, Drew Tillman, Michelle Aguilar, Syrea Brown, Saint John McFadden). NEW MA premier at the UNDERCROFT THEATRE, August 9th (3PM & 5PM Show times) $10 TICKETS: http://on-point.ticketleap.com/new-ma/details
FIND YOUR OUTLET. RELAX, UNWIND, REPEAT CLASSIFIEDS HEALTH/ MIND, BODY & SPIRIT http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/
“25th African American Heritage Festival” Grace E. Metz Middle School 9950 Wellington Rd Manassas, VA 20110 Date: August 1, 2015 Time: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM For Additional Information Phone: (703) 369-2475 Website www.maahf.com Comic Book & Sports Card Show Sunday July 26 10am-3pm at the Annandale Virginia Fire House Expo Hall 7128 Columbia Pike 22003 Dealers selling Gold, Silver, Bronze & Modern Age Comic Books, Nonsports cards from the 1880’s to the present, an Artists Alley PLUS sports cards - vintage to the present, sports collectibles & hobby supplies for all your needs Info: shoffpromotions.com
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Licensed Massage & Spas
RELAXING SOOTHING MASSAGE reduce your stress, relax your mind, energize your body and restore your balance. Great technique, sensitivity and intuition. Location MacArthur Blvd ,NW,DC Private Offi ce in the Palisades. Outcalls welcome. By appointment only. 240-463-7754valerie@yourclassicmassage.com MD License #R00983 Monday through Friday: 10am. To 6pm
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Excellent Massage by beautiful therapists in Qi Spa. Swedish, Deep Tissue, Hot Stone massage. 3106 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007. www.qispadc.com. Appointment or walk-ins welcome. Waxing, skincare, body slimming. Ask for City Paper Specials! 202-333-6344. Heaven-On-Earth. You’ve tried the rest, now come to the best! 240-418-9530, Bethesda. MD Massage License #R00120.
Moving?
Find A Helping Hand Today
Join us at the Whistle Blower Summit for Civil & Human Rights, July 29-31. Whistle Blower Summit is the only conference of its kind, planned by & for whistle blowers & their advocates, civil & human rights activists. Meet the people that make news possible. Whistleblowersummit.com, 202370-6635
Volunteer Services Defend abortion rights. Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force (WACDTF) needs volunteer clinic escorts Saturday mornings, weekdays. Trainings, other info:202-681-6577, http://www. wacdtf.org, wacdtf@wacdtf.org.
Counseling
MOVING?
FIND A HELPING HAND TODAY
Out with the old, In with the new Post your listing with Washington City Paper washingtoncitypaper.com July 24, 2015 47 Classifieds
1773 or email me at dc1soulman@live.com.
MOVING? FIND A HELPING HAND TODAY B U B T E R Y H E A T E B L E
fortmyer.com or 202.636.9535. Visit fortmyer.com for upcoming solicitations.
Fitness
Events
Pregnant? Thinking of Adoption? Talk with a caring agency specializing in matching Birthmothers with Families Nationwide. Living Expenses Paid. Call 24/7 Abby’s One True Gift Adoptions. 866-413-6293. Void in Illinois/New Mexico/Indiana.
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